Buangkok site gets $247m top bid

[mr funny]

http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/sub/...41680,00.html?

Published June 3, 2011

Buangkok site gets $247m top bid

By EMILYN YAP


THE tender for a 99-year leasehold residential site at Buangkok Drive/Sengkang East Drive closed yesterday with just four bidders in the fray.

Qingdao Construction (Singapore) submitted the top bid of $247 million or $391 per square foot per plot ratio (psf ppr).

The bid is within market expectations and is just 3 per cent above the next highest bid of $239.8 million or $380 psf ppr, which came from a tie-up between Lum Chang Building Contractors and a unit of Frasers Centrepoint.

A Centurion Properties unit and Best Desire Investments also took part in the tender. Best Desire, which is not incorporated in Singapore, put in the lowest bid of $145.2 million or $230 psf ppr.

The site is near Kangkar LRT Station but is some distance away from Buangkok MRT Station. It is next to Austville Residences, an executive condominium project launched early this year.

The 'moderate tender response and bids' reflect the plot's location in the 'less busy part' of Sengkang and Upper Serangoon, said Credo Real Estate executive director Ong Teck Hui.

With a maximum gross floor area of around 631,300 sq ft, the site can yield an estimated 550 units.

CB Richard Ellis executive director Li Hiaw Ho expects the project's breakeven cost to be around $760-$780 psf.

Credo's Mr Ong expects the project to have an average selling price of around $800-850 psf.

Caveats lodged with the authorities show that at The Quartz nearby, units changed hands at $837-963 psf between April and May. At H2O Residences at Sengkang West Avenue/Fernvale Link, units went for $916-$1,020 psf in May.

[mr funny]

http://www.straitstimes.com/Money/St...ry_675628.html

Jun 3, 2011

$247m top bid for Buangkok condo site

By Esther Teo, Property Reporter


A CONDOMINIUM site in Buangkok has secured a top bid of $247 million in a four-way tussle among developers.

The moderate level of interest was in line with market expectations.

Qingdao Construction lodged the top bid of $247 million - or $391 per sq ft (psf) per plot ratio (ppr) - for the 19,549 sq m site at the junction of Buangkok Drive and Sengkang East Drive.

Frasers Centrepoint unit Opal Star and Lum Chang Building Contractors came in just a shade lower at $239.8 million - or 3 per cent shy at $380 psf ppr.

Centurion Re was third with a bid of $196.9 million, while Best Desire Investment, which is not incorporated in Singapore, rounded out the four with a $145.2 million bid. This works out to $230 psf ppr, 41 per cent lower than the top bid.

Experts say both the tender participation level and top bid were within market expectations. They had earlier estimated a top bid of $320 psf ppr to $450 psf ppr and up to six bids.

The site is adjacent to the Austville Residences executive condominium (EC) and is a short walk to Kangkar LRT station and the shopping outlets at Rivervale Plaza, CB Richard Ellis Research executive director Li Hiaw Ho said.

Austville Residences, developed by a tie-up between United Engineers and Lee Metal Group, won the tender for the EC site last year at $321 psf ppr.

Mr Li said the 99-year leasehold site with a maximum gross floor area of about 59,000 sq m can be developed into a condominium development of about 20 storeys with 550 units.

A new project will break even at about $760 psf to $780 psf, he added. 'Currently, units in H2O Residences at the junction of Sengkang West Avenue and Fernvale Link are being marketed at the median price of $940 psf. Some 330 units of this 521-unit condo have been sold to date.'

Mr Ong Teck Hui, Credo Real Estate's head of research and consultancy, said the moderate tender response and bids are in line with the site's attributes.

'It's a site in the less busy part of Sengkang and Upper Serangoon, away from amenity hubs and MRT stations,' he said.

In November last year, a site at Serangoon View, about 500m away, also attracted only four bidders but achieved an even lower top bid of $320 psf ppr.

Mr Ong expects the average selling price of the project to range from $800 psf to $850 psf.