10th April 2013, Wednesday
Residential
Twin Fountains EC launch at Woodlands Source: The Straits Times The first executive condominium (EC) of the year is being launched in Woodlands today. Units at Twin Fountains are priced from $580,000 for a two-bedroom suite to $1.26 million for a four-bedroom dual-key unit, with prices ranging between $660 and $790 per sq ft (psf). The project has 418 residential units across eight 14-storey blocks and is due for completion in October 2016, said its joint developers Frasers Centrepoint and Lum Chang in a statement Tuesday. DWG senior manager Lee Sze Teck said he expected "very strong" demand for units at Twin Fountains, particularly its 104 dual-key units. He pointed out that Twin Fountains and the upcoming Forestville would be the only EC projects this year to escape a ruling on the purchase of dual-key units that kicked in on Jan 12. Sales of new dual-key EC units will be restricted to multi-generational families for the rest of the EC projects this year and onwards. Dual-key units have two entrances. Frasers Centrepoint Homes chief executive Cheang Kok Kheong also cited pent-up demand for ECs in the area. No EC has been launched in Woodlands since La Casa in 2005. Woodlands and the nearby towns of Choa Chu Kang and Yishun have around 609,100 residents combined, of whom four-fifths live in four- or five-room Housing Board flats. A majority of those people have also lived in their flats for the minimum occupation period of five years. The next upcoming EC project is Forestville, also in Woodlands, which is expected to go back on the market before the end of June. Other EC developments expected to be launched later this year include an EC site in Sembawang won by boutique developer JBE Holdings in December last year for $211.9 million, or $323.76 psf ppr. Twin Fountains is the second joint venture of Frasers Centrepoint and Lum Chang, after Esparina Residences in Buangkok, which was launched in October 2010 and is fully sold. Esparina Residences is expected to get its Temporary Occupation Permit in the first quarter of next year. E-applications for units at Twin Fountains will be open from today to 21 April. Successful applicants will be able to book the units on 11 May.
Links to the story: http://www.straitstimes.com/st/print/984377 http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/print/537128
Investment Sales
Bungalow with a view to smash price records Source: Business Times A privately-held investment vehicle controlled by Wing Tai chairman Cheng Wai Keung and his wife Helen has put its Nassim Road bungalow on a sprawling 84,839 sq ft freehold site on the market. The sole marketing agent appointed to handle the sale of the property by tender - said the owners, whom it did not identify, are aiming to receive offers in the region of $250-300 million. This would work out to $2,947-3,536 per sq ft (psf) on the land area. Even the lower ends of the absolute and psf price ranges, if achieved, would set record prices for Good Class Bungalows. In terms of absolute quantum, the highest transaction in a GCB Area was for $87.5 million in 2001 involving a 291,000 sq ft parcel in Swettenham Road in an asset swop deal between Singapore Press Holdings and Lum Chang. On psf of land area basis, the record price for a transaction in a GCB Area was set in October last year when bungalow investor George Lim sold a Leedon Park property for $2,110 psf on its 15,640 sq ft land area. On Nassim Road itself, the highest psf price achieved was $2,000 psf in February last year when motoring tycoon Peter Kwee sold a 23,922 sq ft vacant plot a stone's throw from the Chengs' property. The tender for 33 Nassim Road closes on 16 May.
Links to the story: http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/print/536969 http://www.straitstimes.com/st/print/984203 http://www.todayonline.com/print/111286
Court slams $200k inducement, refuses to clear en bloc sale Source: The Straits Times The High Court has slammed an en bloc sales committee and its marketing agent for offering a $200,000 inducement to a couple to join the collective sale of their residential block. The consent from flat owners Han Min Juan and Jee Ming Tu would have enabled the requisite 80 per cent majority to be crossed for Harbour View Gardens in Pasir Panjang Road to be sold to a property developer. Justice Belinda Ang refused to allow the sale to proceed and said the collective sale committee (CSC) involved had failed to act in good faith while the marketing agent's conduct was "commercially unacceptable". The test case is significant in clarifying the circumstances in which incentive payments are allowed. Justice Ang added in judgment grounds released Tuesday that the committee "did not act in a transparent manner" and had furthered the interests of the majority owners to the prejudice of the dissenting minority owners. The 14 units of freehold three- storey walk-up apartments had been sold to RH West Coast for $33 million last year subject to clearance for the sale.
Link to the story: http://www.straitstimes.com/st/print/984186
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