THE sprawling Laguna Park condominium estate in Marine Parade, up for en bloc tender at $1.2 billion, is only the second offering in collective sales this year. The first was the smallish Dragon Mansion in Spottiswoode Park Road, asking for $120 million. In all of last year, only seven deals eventuated, for $371 million. Contrast the poverty with boom year 2007, when 111 developments were sold to fetch a pot of $12.4 billion for the mostly satisfied sellers. Many of these cashed-up people are behind the active condo sales of the past two months. Good for them, their living standards are rising.
At the slow rate collective-sale endeavours are emerging and taking into account some property specialists’ reservations about whether the present recovery has a solid basis, there seems little likelihood Singaporeans will be consumed again soon by en bloc fever, with all the contrasting connotations it entails. Negative emotions bubbled up in the last frenetic round: a backlash against perceived avarice; loss of rootedness in an inconstant landscape; the angst of elderly residents and those who valued a settled community; the underhand means some professional advisers and sales committees resorted to in rushing deals through. Continue reading
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