BT : Ho Bee, MCL launching Parvis condo at $1,480 psf average‏

Business Times - 05 Nov 2009


Ho Bee, MCL launching Parvis condo at $1,480 psf average

By KALPANA RASHIWALA

(SINGAPORE) As other developers mull over whether to release new projects this quarter or hold back until 2010, Ho Bee and MCL Land have moved to launch their Parvis condo at Holland Hill this week.

The average price is about $1,480 per sq ft for the initial batch of 85 units. The 12-storey freehold project has 248 units.

The pricing is considered fair for the location, said a property consultant who is not marketing Parvis, adding that it could easily be $1,500-1,600 psf on average.

The Lush on Holland Hill nearby is selling for about $1,500 psf on average. In the secondary market, units at Waterfall Gardens in Farrer Road are changing hands for about $1,450-1,500 psf.

The 85 units MCL Land and Ho Bee are releasing at Parvis will be priced between $1,400 psf and $1,600 psf. In absolute terms, prices range from $1.62 million for a two-bedroom unit of 990 sq ft to $3.02 million for a four-bedder of 1,991 sq ft.

The project comprises three blocks being built on the former Holland Hill Mansions site, which Ho Bee and MCL bought in late 2006 for $292 million or $750 psf per plot ratio.

Market watchers estimate the developers' breakeven cost could be about $1,200 psf. Assuming a $1,480 psf average selling price for the entire development, their total pre-tax profit for the project could be about $120 million, some analysts reckon.

This is the second time MCL Land and Ho Bee have teamed up. Their first partnership was the 716-unit Rio Vista condo at Hougang. The project was launched in 2001 and completed three years later.

MCL is developing solo a 608-unit condo on a 99-year leasehold plot near Yishun MRT Station, fronting Lower Seletar Reservoir and close to Singapore Orchid Country Club/Golf Course.

It paid $350 psf ppr for the site in a state tender in March last year. The project, named The Estuary, will be launch-ready by year-end but is more likely to be released only in the first quarter of next year, said MCL's CEO Koh Teck Chuan.

Copyright © 2007 Singapore Press Holdings Ltd. All rights reserved.