Ravi Chandran
The unique residential site can be redeveloped to accommodate either a five-storey boutique development or a detached house for multi-generation living
CBRE announced on Oct 22 that it has been appointed as the exclusive marketing agent for a unique residential development site located at 62 Florence Road, off Upper Serangoon Road. The sale is by way of public tender, which will close on 5 December 2019 at 3 pm.
A delta-shaped site, 62 Florence Road enjoys dual road frontage of 55 meters along Florence Road and 45 meters onto Lim Ah Pin Road. With a land area of approximately 15,871 square feet, the site is currently occupied by a vacant single-storey detached house built in the 1930’s. Based on the Draft Master Plan 2019, the site is zoned for ‘Residential’ use with a plot ratio 1.4.
The indicative price for the unique residential site at 62 Florence Road is in the region of S$13.5 million, which works out to S$850 per square foot on the land area.
Table of Contents
Mr Michael Tay, Senior Executive Director, Capital Markets, CBRE said, “62 Florence Road is a unique development site as it offers the buyer several redevelopment options. As the current plot ratio is under-utilised, the site can be redeveloped to accommodate a five-storey boutique development comprising some 20 apartments of approximately 1,076 square feet in unit size area, a basement carpark and communal facilities – subject to approvals by the relevant authorities. There will also be an estimated development charge of S$3.7 million, subject to URA’s confirmation.”
Mr Tay added, “Given that the area is relatively tranquil and private, surrounded by various landed houses, we expect keen interest from investors or boutique developers focusing on quality niche developments. The site will also appeal to owner occupiers who are in search for places suitable for multi-generation living. What’s more, the per square foot price at S$850 is reasonably attractive, compared to a nearby land plot at 36 Flower Road that changed hands last month at S$915 per square foot.”
The immediate neighborhood of the unique residential site comprises mainly landed homes. It is approximately an eight-minute stroll to Kovan MRT Station and bus interchange, as well as Kovan City, where F&B and amenities can be easily accessed at Heartland Mall, and Kovan Market and Food Centre. Educational institutions near the unique residential site include Rosyth School, Maris Stella High School, Paya Lebar Methodist Girls’ School, Nanyang Junior College, Serangoon Junior College, as well as an Australian and a French international school.
The tender for the unique residential site will close on Dec 5 at 3pm.
https://www.icompareloan.com/resources/mortgage-broker-singapore-best-rate/
The sale of the unique residential site comes at a time when the local residential market appears to have shrugged off worries about the downbeat Singapore economic data. The Cushman & Wakefield (C&W) research report said the market staged a solid rebound in prices in the second quarter, demonstrating resilience in the underlying demand for the sector.
C&W which made this observation in August on the local residential market base on URA’s Q2 2019 statistics, said, “according to Q2 2019 URA data, overall private property prices rose 1.5% quarter-on-quarter (q-o-q), reversing losses in Q1 2019. Year-to-date (YTD), private property prices are up 0.8%. Gains were led by the non-landed segment, which rose 2.0% q-o-q. Landed prices saw a slight fall of 0.1% q-o-q.”
The rise in overall prices in the local residential market can be attributed to the continued take-ups for new launches on the back of a benign interest rate environment, stable job market and pent-up domestic demand, said C&W.
There is little ambiguity about the lifting of cooling measures having prompted some buyers to come off from the sideline. Demand is now particularly sensitive to any shifts in price and quantum, given the tighter loan restrictions and higher Additional Buyer’s Stamp Duty (ABSD) following the July 6 cooling measures.
C&W said that the rise in prices in the local residential market was broad-based, with all 3 market segments increasing in Q2 2019. Rest of Central Region (RCR) prices rose the most, rising 3.5% q-o-q while Core Central Region(CCR) and Outside Central Region (OCR) prices rose 2.3% and 0.4% respectively.
“The RCR outperformed the rest of the segments, possibly because of the sales from new launches: there were a total of 1162 new sales in the RCR, out of 2350 total new sales, around 49.4% of total new sales in Q2 2019. Also, the encouraging performance of 2 recent freehold RCR launches namely, Amber Park and Sky Everton could have helped lift overall RCR prices. Amber Park and Sky Everton sold a total of 156 units ($2476 psf) and 131 units ($2524 psf) respectively, according to caveat data. The average new sale price for RCR in Q2 2019 was $1818 psf.
Although OCR prices underperformed the rest of the segments in Q2 2019, prices have reached a historical peak. Since the market recovery in Q3 2017 to Q2 2019, OCR prices have grown 11.7%. In comparison, CCR and RCR prices have only gained 7.5% and 11.5% respectively, over the same time period. OCR prices could still see further upside but growth is expected to be moderate.”
Liquidity from en bloc winners in the recent en bloc cycle is still expected to come into the market, supporting demand and property prices. Although the overall demand is still healthy, competitions are also rising as take-ups are also spread out among the numerous new launches across the island due to the spike in the pipeline.
Developers are refraining from any price cuts in the local residential market, in the short and medium term unless macro-economic conditions deteriorate further, said C&W.
