Category Archives: Developers

Fragrance unit buys Sembawang site

Posted on 11 Sep 2009 | Comments Off on Fragrance unit buys Sembawang site

FRAGRANCE Group continues to buy land. It said yesterday that its fully owned subsidiary Fragrance Homes has bought a site at Kerong Lane, in the Sembawang area, for $7.5 million.

The price works out to $238 per square foot for the 31,464 sq ft plot. The 99-year leasehold site is for landed housing and can yield 15 three-storey terrace houses with attics.

‘The acquisition is subject to the seller obtaining the necessary approval from the Urban Redevelopment Authority,’ Fragrance said yesterday. An industry observer said the site could be one sold by the URA in the past. It is in a location where URA has auctioned sub-divided landed-housing plots.

In April last year, the authority auctioned 11 plots at an average price of $223 psf. At that auction, Fragrance picked up four plots that can be developed into eight semi-detached houses and 40 terrace houses.

Market watchers say the group has bought more than $100 million of property in the past few months. Its purchases include the Premier Centre
office block in the Beach Road area, development land at Telok Kurau, a site in Changi Road and a row of shophouses at Pasir Panjang.

Fragrance Group posted an 11.4 per cent year-on-year increase in net profit for the second quarter ended June 30 to $17.7 million. Turnover rose 33.1 per cent to $79.5 million.

Source : Business Times – 11th Sep 2009

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Bids for Dakota Crescent plot soar above expectations

Posted on 10 Sep 2009 | Comments Off on Bids for Dakota Crescent plot soar above expectations

UOL Group bid tops 12 others as developers vie for choice piece of land

The result of yesterday’s tender for a plum condo plot at Dakota Crescent shows just why the government recently raised the ‘definite possibility’ that it will restart confirmed list land sales from next year.

A total of 13 bids were received, reflecting developers’ voracious appetite for mass-market and mid-tier private housing land.

The top bid from UOL Group was above market expectations of about $420-450 per square foot per plot ratio (psf ppr) just a few days ago. UOL’s price yesterday was slightly more than $329 million or about $508 psf ppr – just 3 per cent shy of the $524 psf ppr that Ho Bee and NUTC Choice Homes paid during the peak in June 2007 for the plot next door on which they are developing Dakota Residences, which has achieved an average selling price of about $970-980 psf.

However, after taking into account changes in planning regulations since then, whereby planter boxes and bay windows are not exempted from gross floor area calculations, UOL’s bid yesterday is probably higher than the equivalent 2007 bid for the next-door plot, some market watchers say.

BT understands that UOL is gunning for a high proportion of smaller units in its proposed scheme, and thus push for a higher average selling price of about $1,000-1,050 psf. ‘They should be able to achieve this kind of psf price – so long as they keep the absolute price quantum within an affordable range,’ an industry observer said.

BT understands UOL’s breakeven cost will be about $920 psf. Continue reading →

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