5-room Pinnacle @ Duxton flat sold for record-breaking $1.12 million - AsiaOne

Thursday, Sep 22, 2016

AsiaOne

SINGAPORE - A five-room flat at the iconic Pinnacle @ Duxton has become the most expensive public flat ever in Singapore, after it was sold for a record $1.12 million in September.

According to data on the Housing and Development Board (HDB) website, the high-floor unit is located between the 43rd and 45th storeys of Block 1G, which was the first block to be completed at the Tanjong Pagar development.

The "S2" unit has an area of 1,140.97 square feet, meaning that the price tag works out to approximately $981.62 per square foot.

The sale is believed to represent the most expensive transaction of a five-room HDB flat in Singapore, breaking the previous record held by another Pinnacle @ Duxton unit that changed hands for $1,088,000 in November last year.


Chinese evening daily Lianhe Wanbao reported that the buyer is believed to be a professional, who was attracted to the unit for its unobstructed sea view.

The buyer also liked the flat's convenient location at the fringes of the central business district.



Mr Lim Yong Hock, key executive officer of PropNex Realty, told Wanbao that both public and private five-room flats today attract no shortage of interested buyers as long as they were centrally located and close to an MRT station.

There are a total of 1,848 units across seven blocks at the Pinnacle @ Duxton. When the project was launched in 2004, four-room flats were sold for between $288,400 and $392,100, while five-roomers fetched between $343,100 and $451,500, Wanbao reported.

seanyap@sph.com.sg

Source: AsiaOne

Leedon Park bungalow up for sale at $75 million - AsiaOne

Wednesday, Sep 14, 2016

Tan Effie

The Business Times

SINGAPORE - A sprawling good class bungalow (GCB), situated on one of the highest points of the Leedon Park GCB Area, was launched for sale by tender by sole marketing agent JLL on Tuesday.

The vendors of 17 Leedon Park are expecting offers in the region of S$70 million to S$75 million, which works out to S$1,493 psf to S$1,599 psf on the land area.

Built in the early 1990s, 17 Leedon Park comprises a two-storey bungalow with a built-up area of approximately 9,000 sq ft equipped with a 21 m long in-ground swimming pool and a lavish garden.

The property has a sprawling land area of about 46,879 sq ft, which is about 60 per cent the size of a football field.

It is large enough to be sub-divided into three GCBs which require a minimum land area of 15,069 sq ft each.
The wide frontage of about 80 m and the generally flat terrain allows for efficient subdivision.



Said Karamjit Singh, international director and head of residential, JLL: "Home buyers could also look to retain the existing house, which comes with a charming courtyard, while carving off about 15,069 sq ft from its garden and pool area to build another GCB.

This would leave the existing house with a reduced land area of just under 32,000 sq ft, which could in the future be further sub-divided into two GCBs."

He added: "Alternatively, friends or family members could team up to acquire the property and have it redeveloped into two or three houses. Such opportunities to build three GCBs side-by-side do not come by often."

The property is also accessible to other parts of the island and is conveniently connected to many amenities such as the Botanic Gardens, Holland Village, Cold Storage Jelita and The Star Vista. It belongs to Kwan Chang Choo and Eddie Foo Chik Kin.

Mr Foo was also the managing director of Firstlink Investments Corp, formerly known as Singatronics.
The tender for 17 Leedon Park closes on Tuesday, October 18, 2016 at 2.30pm.


This article was first published on September 14, 2016. 

Source: AsiaOne

Yun Nam boss picks up GCB at Brizay Park - AsiaOne

Wednesday, Aug 31, 2016

Kalpana Rashiwala

The Business Times

Yun Nam Hair Care boss Andy Chua is understood to have picked up a Good Class Bungalow (GCB) along Brizay Park off Old Holland Road for S$33 million.

The price works out to S$1,108 per square foot (psf) on the freehold land area of nearly 29,800 square feet.

On site is an old bungalow. Mr Chua owns an adjoining property on a land area of nearly 25,750 sq ft. Market watchers reckon he could redevelop the property he is buying, or even amalgamate the two plots for a bigger redevelopment.

This would be the third time in as many years that Mr Chua would be making the headlines.

Last year, he picked up a duplex penthouse at St Regis Residences along Tanglin Road for S$12.2 million or S$2,028 psf on a strata area of 6,017 sq ft - at a whopping S$15.8 million loss to the seller, Japanese tycoon Katsumi Tada, who had paid S$28 million or S$4,653 psf for the unit in 2007.

Mr Tada is president of Daisho Group. The penthouse has a swimming pool on the upper level and overlooks the plush Nassim Road enclave.

Mr Chua was also the Singaporean who in 2014 paid US$2.2 million to have a private lunch with US investment guru Warren Buffett.

Inclusive of the latest deal, at least 23 GCB transactions have taken place this year at a total of S$531 million. The biggest deal is the British government's S$56.58 million sale of two land parcels on Nassim Road, carved out from part of the garden land at the British High Commissioner's residence, Eden Hall. The price works out to about S$1,652 psf across both plots.

Buyer OUE is understood to be looking at the site's topography and exploring its options, including re-amalgamating the plots and building a big bungalow on site - for sale.

Another big-ticket GCB deal this year is a single-storey property on a sprawling site at the corner of Queen Astrid Park and Coronation Road West, which went for S$44.5 million or S$1,271 psf.

The buyer is a family member of Goh Hup Jin, son of billionaire paint tycoon Goh Cheng Liang. The transaction was an estate sale. The 35,011-sq-ft freehold land area is large enough to be subdivided into two smaller GCB plots.

A house at Peirce Hill also changed hands recently for S$27 million or S$1,751 psf on land area. The property is being sold by a couple to a Singaporean in his early 40s.

Earlier this year, Zhang Yong, the founder of the popular HaiDiLao steamboat chain that originated in China, bought a bungalow along Gallop Road for S$27 million. Mr Zhang is a Singapore citizen.

GCBs are the most prestigious type of landed housing in Singapore because of the planning constraints to preserve their exclusivity and low-rise character.

The Urban Redevelopment Authority has designated 39 locations on mainland Singapore as Good Class Bungalow Areas. Typically, GCBs have a minimum land area of 1,400 square metres (15,069 sq ft); however, when GCB Areas were gazetted in 1980, they included some smaller existing sites.

These are still considered GCBs as they would be bound by the other GCB planning rules if they were to be redeveloped. For instance, such plots cannot be further sub-divided and they cannot be built more than two storeys high (plus an attic and a basement).



This article was first published on Aug 31, 2016. 

Source: AsiaOne