BT : $5,600 psf for penthouse new high in property price here

Business Times - 12 Oct 2007 $

5,600 psf for penthouse new high in property price here 53rd-storey Orchard Residences unit fetches over $28m By KALPANA RASHIWALA

Orchard Residences: About 73 per cent of the total 175 units in the condoare said to have been sold

A NEW record property price for Singapore has been set, even though fewersales are being made in high-end residential projects since the time of theUS sub-prime mortgage crisis.

CapitaLand and Sun Hung Kai Properties are said to have sold earlier thisweek a penthouse on the 53rd storey of The Orchard Residences for about$5,600 per square foot (psf), or over $28 million. This surpasses theprevious benchmark of $5,500 psf set in August when a 54th storey penthousefetched about $27.8 million.

This means that all four penthouses in the 99-year leasehold development are now sold.The developers are said to have sold about 73 per cent of the total 175units in the condo. The buyer of the final penthouse sold this week isbelieved to be a foreigner. The 5,048 sq ft unit has five bedrooms, a studyand a family room.

A stone's throw away, Wheelock Properties (Singapore) is said to have soldmore than 30 apartments at its freehold Scotts Square since the officiallaunch of the project on Sept 28.

The developer is said to have largely maintained its average price at aroundthe $4,000 psf mark from its preview in July, when it sold about half of theproject's 338 apartments.

Over in Sentosa Cove, Ho Bee has sold 38 of the 50 units it has released sofar in its 91-unit condo, Turquoise, since late September. The units havebeen sold at prices ranging from nearly $2,500 psf to $2,770 psf.

The average price is about $2,600 psf, Ho Bee Investment executive directorOng Chong Hua said when contacted by BT yesterday. Buyers of the 38 units -which include four penthouses - were an equal mix of foreigners andSingaporeans, he said.

Apartments at the 99-year leasehold Turquoise typically cost around $5.3million for a three-bedroom unit, $6.4 million for a four-bedder and around$9.3 million for a penthouse.

DTZ Debenham Tie Leung executive director (residential) Margaret Thean acknowledges that buyers, both local and foreign, have been more cautiousafter the stock market setback at the time of the US sub-prime mortgage crisis.'But we still see activity going on. For the high-end projects, we've notnoticed any withdrawal of liquidity. The only difference is that prospective buyers are more cautious, doing more calculations and being more selectivein their choice of investment before making a commitment,' she said.Market watchers also say that the recovery in the stock market in recentweeks has led to a return of confidence in the property market, as seen in apick-up in subsales activity lately.

Over in the Seletar Hills area, Tong Eng Brothers unit Fairview Developmentsis launching two landed developments. One is the freehold 8 @Stratton, comprising eight cluster semi-detached houses priced at $1.98million to $2.2 million.

The houses have built-up areas ranging from 3,595 sq ft to 3,649 sq ft andstrata areas of 4,930 sq ft to 5,145 sq ft. The second project is Nim Green,a collection of just three terrace houses - a corner unit with an askingprice of $2.5 million and two intermediate units with a price tag of about$2 million.

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