Buangkok site attracts highest-ever EC bid
The tender draws 11 bids, the highest being about $315 per sq ft per plot ratio
By KALPANA RASHIWALA
(SINGAPORE) A 99-year-leasehold executive condominium (EC) housing site near Buangkok MRT Station has fetched the highest ever bid for an EC site.
The top bid from a partnership between Frasers Centrepoint and Lum Chang Building Contractors of $193.28 million or about $315 per square foot per plot ratio (psf ppr) surpassed the previous record of $220 psf ppr for the Summerdale EC site in Boon Lay in May 1997, noted property consultant CB Richard Ellis (CBRE).
Yesterday's tender drew a total of 11 bids, reflecting developers' continuing hunger for land. The top bid came in slightly above market expectations in January, when the Housing & Development Board (HDB) launched the site. ECs are a hybrid of private and public housing.
With Lum Chang expected to provide construction services for the project, the tie-up should be able to minimise construction costs, industry observers noted yesterday. By some market estimates, their breakeven cost for a new EC project could be below $600 psf. The duo are expected to build a higher proportion of small units to try and achieve higher per square foot selling prices.
Even so, there will be a limit as to how small the apartments can be, given the high standard of public housing set in the area, for HDB Aspella, comprising premium HDB flats next to Buangkok MRT Station, market watchers say.
A possible option, and one which Frasers Centrepoint has done before, is to have some apartments with its 'dual-key concept', where a regular-sized apartment and a granny apartment (with its own kitchenette and bathroom) are packaged as a single unit.
CBRE executive director Li Hiaw Ho reckons Frasers Centrepoint and Lum Chang could sell their units in the $650-$680 psf range on average. Based on that, a 1,200-sq-ft unit in the new development would be priced at about $800,000.
A Frasers Centrepoint spokesman said yesterday: 'This site is well-located, and in view of the tight supply and great demand, we are confident that it will be an attractive development especially to home buyers who have been recently priced out of the market. We are planning to build about 500-plus units on the site.'
In the secondary market, three EC projects in the north-east region - The Rivervale, Florida and Park Green - have sold at $520-$600 psf between October 2009 and February 2010, said CBRE.
Yesterday's top bid was just 1.4 per cent above the second highest offer of $310 psf ppr by MCC Land, part of the China Metallurgical Construction Group. Other bidders at yesterday's tender included a JV led by Hoi Hup Realty; United Engineers unit Greatearth Holdings and a tie-up between Choice Homes Investments and a subsidiary of Chip Eng Seng Corporation. Interestingly, property giants Far East Organization and City Developments emerged near the bottom of the bids' table. The lowest bid came from Boon Keng Development at $198.52 psf ppr.
ECs are strata-titled apartments with facilities comparable to private condos. New ECs are sold with initial eligibility, ownership and resale restrictions similar to public housing; but these are completely removed after 10 years.
Among the buyer eligibility criteria is a maximum $10,000 monthly household income. Qualifying first-time buyers who purchase new ECs may also apply for a $30,000 CPF housing grant.
The winning tenderer will have to set aside 95 per cent of units in the initial month of sale for first-time home buyers - those who have yet to receive a housing subsidy from government. Second timers buying new ECs do not need to pay any resale levy.
The tender for another EC site, in Yishun, will close on March 11. HDB also announced yesterday it will launch another plot, also in Yishun, later this month or next month for development into HDB flats under the Design, Build & Sell Scheme. That site can potentially yield about 700 flats.
Copyright © 2010 Singapore Press Holdings Ltd. All rights reserved.
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