Braddell View gets closer to kick-starting process

[reporter2]

Braddell View plans to join collective sale rush

Sep 19, 2017

Largest of 18 former HUDC estates hoping developers will pay $2b for sprawling site

Grace Leong


Braddell View, the largest of Singapore's 18 former HUDC estates, is planning to jump on the collective sale bandwagon, just months after it was privatised.

The 918-unit development is holding a meeting on Oct 10 to form a collective sale committee to kickstart the process.

Mr Alex Teo, chairman of the Management Corporation Strata Title, told The Straits Times yesterday that they hope to sell the estate for more than $2 billion - a price that would dwarf Pine Grove's $1.65 billion attempt at selling en bloc.

The sprawling 1.124 million sq ft development has 63 years left on its 99-year lease.

Braddell View was privatised in March after a hard-fought process that spanned 18 years because of the need to "harmonise" the leases of two separate plots of land that make up the estate.

Now, many owners want to capitalise on the en bloc fever that has been building in the market this year. "We did a survey on Aug 18 on whether the residents wanted to sell the property en bloc. Out of 400 who responded, about 82 per cent wanted to go for it," Mr Teo said. "Based on the target price of above $2 billion, each owner can probably get above $2 million on average," he said.

Ms Alice Liew, 58, a Braddell View resident for 31 years, said: "We were quite encouraged that we got privatised. Now that that hurdle is out of the way, we are all excited about the next phase - which is selling en bloc.

"We really love this place because of the space, its central location. It's near Braddell, Marymount and Caldecott MRT stations. It is very convenient but the estate is getting quite old.

"But if we don't get the right price, and have to end up with a much smaller unit in Punggol or further out, then I won't be in favour of the sale..."

Ms Liew, who owns a 1,800 sq ft apartment, acknowledged that there are a number of other developments at various stages of a collective sale process.

"We have a very big piece of land. I'm not sure if one developer can take it upon themselves to develop it. They have to consider what's profitable for them, and we have to consider what's reasonable for us," she added.

The residential site has a 2.1 plot ratio, so a project of up to 3,000 units could be built there, according to analysts. Mr Teo said there are talks under way to raise the plot ratio to between 2.8 and 3.2.

Dr Lee Nai Jia, head of research at Edmund Tie and Company, noted: "The market can only absorb one or two big sites. Because the site is so big, developers will need to factor in expected costs if they cannot finish selling the completed units."

Selling all the units within five years of buying the land to avoid additional buyer's stamp duty will pose a challenge, analysts said. This could affect the price developers are prepared to pay for the site.

"Braddell View is attractive, given its central location and proximity to a number of MRT stations. But there are so many en bloc sites available," Dr Lee said. "There's Pine Grove and Normanton Park. It could depend on which one is faster in launching their site for sale."

Projects such as The Interlace and d'Leedon, which were built on large sites sold during the 2007 collective sale boom, still have unsold units, Mr Nicholas Mak, executive director of the ZACD Group, noted.

Chef Bjorn Shen, 35, owner of Artichoke restaurant, said he has lived at Braddell View since he was 17.

"We love where we are. I bought over my late grandfather's unit in 2013, and my step-mum lives just three floors below us," he said.

"We haven't decided on selling en bloc. We are still weighing the pros and cons, but having to move out means we would be closing the door on a very precious part of our lives."

[reporter2]

Braddell View hops onto en bloc bandwagon

Sep 19, 2017

Lynette Khoo


BRADDELL View, the largest of Singapore's 18 HUDC estates and the last to be privatised in March this year, is kick-starting its en bloc journey.

The 918-unit estate is holding an extraordinary general meeting on Oct 10 to form the collective sales committee (CSC). The 99-year-lease Braddell View development has 63 years left on its lease.

Market watchers note that it is still early days pending the appointment of a marketing agent and lawyers to draft the collective sales agreement. But a Straits Times report on Monday said owners hope to sell the sprawling 1.124 million sq ft development for at least S$2 billion - a price tag that will eclipse Pine Grove's S$1.65 billion en bloc attempt. The largest en bloc deal to date was in 2007, when the 618-unit Farrer Court was sold for S$1.34 billion to CapitaLand.

The en bloc fever has just started with eight sites sold for S$3.5 billion, including one industrial site, leading many watchers to believe that the en bloc up cycle is still at a nascent stage and the property market is in the early stage of recovery.

"Historically, spikes in en bloc sales have preceded property sector price recovery in the past cycles in 2007 and 2011," said Vikrant Pandey, a property analyst with UOB KayHian.

"We foresee the nascent recovery spreading to the mid-high end segment in the next wave, driven by replacement demand from en blocers and a pick-up in foreign homebuying interest from foreigners," he added. "We expect Singapore property prices to rise by 5-10 per cent next year after bottoming out this year (12-15 per cent correction from peak)."

Mr Pandey said he believes the en bloc fever could run until the end of next year, as a surge in en bloc sales could span between six and eight quarters.

Credit Suisse property analysts said in a note that they believe large listed developers such as City Developments and UOL Group are well placed to replenish land banks via en bloc sites, especially for former HUDC estates with large ticket sizes.

About 12,000 new private homes could potentially be generated from the 10 residential collective sales that have been transacted since last year and from another seven sites which have been launched, but the tenders for which have yet to close or be awarded, JLL estimated.

[Laguna]

High chance that they cannot find the marketing agent and lawyer. The site is too huge

[proud owner]

Not sure how much is their sinking fund, or how much they are spending annually on Maintenance.

I visited a friend there recently and the conditions of their unit is BAD.

Despite several rounds of 'renovations', their ceiling is flaking off. Paintings and patchings did not help. When there is a strong breeze, they get 'snow' .....



In the end they put up false ceiling to cover up.

This is but one of the many units with this problems.

It is a huge estate. And it is old. Constant maintenance is not feasible. And maybe not possible if their Sinking fund is weak. Constant increases in maintenance and sinking fund will hurt owners. especially when the rent there is really cheap.


So when the situation gets too bad too much, right price or not, it has to go...

This is the same problem for many old estates.

[Laguna]

The complexity in old LH estate, once remaining lease <50 years, it is going to be very very difficult to find buyers.
If u have chance to visit the older flats like Laguna Park, Lagoon View etc, the conditions are not much better, especially they are very near to the sea.