Land in Singapore seems to be selling like hotcakes in recent months. As the flow of plots made available under the government land sales (GLS) programme languishes, developers have been eyeing and snapping up plots sold privately. En bloc deals have been monopolising the real estate scene and the latest private land sale was of 1 Draycott Park to Selangor Dredging to the tune of $72 million.
Photo credit: Google Maps.
What currently stands at the 17,422 sq ft site is a 7-storey apartment block with 8 apartments ranging from 860 to 6,200 sq ft. After a development charge of $15.3 million, the sale translates to $1,787 psf. As the site is zoned for residential development, it could potentially yield 36 new storeys of new apartment units.
Situated in the exclusive yet primely located Claymore Hill and Ardmore Park enclave, near Orchard road and the American Club, the new properties to be built on site are likely to go for between $2,700 and $2, 800 psf just to break even. Thus it will not be unusual to expect prices starting from $3,300 psf, about 10 per cent above recent transacted prices in the area, from the future launch of the new project.
While foreigners account for about 50 per cent of the luxury property transactions in Singapore, the stamp duty rate which now stands at 15 per cent has somewhat kept demand at bay. However, from developers’ recent responses to en bloc and private land sales, the prices they are willing to fork out may signify a quicker than expected recovery to the high-end property segment.
