Spanish Village makes second bid to sell en bloc at same asking price

OCT 22, 2018

Ng Jun Sen


The Spanish Village condominium in Farrer Road has been put up for collective sale for the second time in recent months, with no change to its $882 million guide price.

The 226-unit freehold property in affluent District 10 made its first attempt to sell en bloc in June but had no takers.

Mr Tan Chun Ming, senior director of investment advisory at market agent Edmund Tie & Company, said the site has an in-principle approval for 703 units from the Land Transport Authority.

The relaunch comes as the collective sale fever that started in 2016 shows signs of slowing.

The collective sales tender for the Windy Heights freehold condo in Kembangan closed on Oct 10 without a taker too, The Straits Times understands.

Spanish Village's relaunch also follows the move, announced last Wednesday, to cut the maximum number of residential units allowed in new private condo developments.

This would reduce the number of shoebox units built, with the aim of preventing local infrastructure from being overtaxed by excessive development.

The revised rules will apply for development applications submitted to the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) from Jan 17 next year, so a developer that buys Spanish Village may skirt the more stringent guidelines before they kick in. The URA move is the latest in a series of measures this year that has helped slow down the property market.

A heftier additional buyer's stamp duty was imposed in July, a move that shocked industry players, who had been holding out hope for the opposite to happen.

And last month, the development charge rates for redeveloping land were raised. These included an increase of 9.8 per cent for non-landed residential areas on average for 118 sectors.

Edmund Tie & Company, which is Spanish Village's marketing agent, said in a statement that development charge rates for the property's sector in Farrer Road remained unchanged.

This is despite properties in neighbouring sectors being hit with the highest development charge rate hikes of 33 per cent last month.

The Spanish Village guide price of $882 million includes a development charge of around $30 million and reflects a land rate of $1,721 per sq ft per plot ratio.

The condo, which was completed in the 1980s, is on a sprawling 331,457 sq ft site directly opposite the Empress Road Market & Food Centre and near Holland Village, Chip Bee Gardens and Dempsey Hill. It is also within 1km of Nanyang Primary School.

The tender closes on Nov 20 at 3pm.