Tag Archives: Developer Sales

Smaller homes take lion’s share of sales

Posted on 14 Sep 2009 | Comments Off on Smaller homes take lion’s share of sales

Home-seekers have gotten hungrier for apartments in recent months but have yet to work up a hearty appetite for large units.

Across many property launches, studio apartments and two-bedders
remain most popular, reflecting continued price sensitivity on the buyers’
part. They are generally ’still not as ambitious’, says DMG & Partners property analyst Brandon Lee.

At NTUC Choice Homes’ Trevista in Toa Payoh where 550 units have been launched, the majority of units left are three and four-bedders. Many buyers went straight for the two-bedroom units when the project’s preview began some two weeks ago.

GuocoLand saw the same trend when it launched Sophia Residence in the Dhoby Ghaut area. ‘All one and two-bedders were snapped up as soon as they were launched,’ says a GuocoLand spokesman. The project also has three and four-bedroom units.

Anecdotal evidence also points to a preference for smaller homes at projects such as Viva and Ascentia Sky. In another instance, the 70-unit Airstream at St Michael’s Road – where most units measured 625 sq ft in size or smaller – sold out last month.

Aiding the trend, some developers caught sight of homeseekers’ shrinking pockets as the downturn came and reconfigured their projects to offer a bigger number of smaller units. Continue reading →

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URA’s Serangoon Ave site likely to draw strong bids

Posted on 10 Sep 2009 | Comments Off on URA’s Serangoon Ave site likely to draw strong bids

Higher expectations follow robust bids at Dakota Crescent tender this week

URBAN Redevelopment Authority yesterday launched the tender for a 99-year condo plot at Serangoon Ave 3. Market watchers expect top bids to be towards the upper band of the range of prices they predicted two weeks ago when URA first revealed it had received a successful application for the site, which was in the reserve list.

Launched: The Serangoon Ave site is next to Lorong Chuan MRT Station and near the Australian International School

The revision follows the strong showing at Tuesday’s state tender for a condo plot at Dakota Crescent, which drew 13 bids. URA said yesterday it has awarded the land parcel to UOL Development (Novena) Pte Ltd, which placed the highest bid of about $329 million or $508 per square foot per plot ratio (psf ppr).

URA also announced an Oct 7 closing date for the tender of the latest plot at Serangoon Ave 3, next to Lorong Chuan MRT Station and near Australian International School.

A fortnight ago, property consultants polled by BT generally predicted top bids for the plum site to be in the $350-450 psf ppr range, with resulting breakeven costs of about $700-850 psf and target selling prices of $800-1,100 psf on average.

Yesterday, DTZ executive director (consulting) Ong Choon Fah predicted the highest offer for the land parcel will probably be towards the $450 psf ppr mark.

Colliers International executive director (investment sales) Ho Eng Joo too is betting that the winning bid will be around the $400 psf ppr level, or the higher end of the $350-$400 psf ppr price band he predicted earlier. Continue reading →

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