Daily Archives: 8 Sep 2009

Laguna Park ‘too expensive’

Singapore property giant CapitaLand has ruled itself out of bidding for the Laguna Park estate, which was put up for collective sale earlier this week.

CapitaLand’s chief executive Liew Mun Leong said yesterday that the reserve price tag of some $1.2 billion for the estate is “too high to yield affordable homes”. He was speaking on the sidelines of an event to unveil the design of The Interlace, an upcoming CapitaLand project at the site of the former Gillman Heights estate.

Laguna Park, a former HUDC estate at Marine Parade, was launched for tender two years after the idea of an enbloc sale was first mooted. Its marketing agent, Credo Real Estate, said it expects keen competition for the plot, but developer CapitaLand said the asking price is simply too high.

“I’m not very sure that at the end of the day, after paying over $800 per plot ratio, plus construction costs, plus your cost of financing, your break-even cost would be something like $1,500 or $1,600 (per square foot). “Are buyers prepared to pay for it at that location and that price? I am less sanguine than them,” said Mr Liew. Continue reading

Sales quieten down at Trevista, Trizon

But developers gear up for new launches, such as Hundred Trees and Cyan

BUSINESS visibly quietened down at showflats last week but developers are already revving up for new launches and releases of new phases of existing projects after Hungry Ghosts Month ends on Sept 18.

However, some market watchers reckon developers may be more careful not to price their projects too aggressively following National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan’s second statement in five weeks that the government is monitoring the property market very closely and will take ‘certain actions’ if necessary.

City Developments is expected to preview Hundred Trees condo on the former Hong Leong Gardens site in the West Coast area in the last weekend of September. Earlier market talk was that the 396-unit project will have an average price of about $930-$980 per square foot (psf). However, some quarters suggest the project will be ‘priced competitively’. The 12-storey development has a 956-year-leasehold tenure. The Hundred Trees condo will be decked with Mempat trees, often dubbed the local version of Japan’s sakura or cherry blossoms.

At Keng Chin Road in the Bukit Timah area, Far East Organization is expected to preview in a few weeks a 278-unit freehold condo named Cyan. Continue reading