NORMANTON Park condominium is slated to be launched for collective sale on Aug 22 at a minimum price of S$800 million after more than 80 per cent of owners by share value and strata area approved the collective sales agreement (CSA) by Wednesday.
It is probably a record for a project of this scale with 488 units to garner sufficient signatures from owners within 11 days, said Ian Loh, head of investment and capital market at Knight Frank, which is marketing the project.
The estimated differential premium for intensification of the site is S$225.3 million, while the lease top-up is estimated to cost another S$220.64 million. This will translate to a land rate of S$898 per square foot per plot ratio (psf ppr), said Mr Loh.
Owners are expected to pocket gross profit of between S$1.62 million and S$1.8 million.
Elsewhere, privatised HUDC estate Florence Regency in Hougang and freehold Amber Park condominium have also crossed the 80 per cent consensus for their collective sales agreements, BT understands.
Both projects are marketed by JLL, which declined to comment on their reserve prices. But minutes of a collective sales committee meeting for the 336-unit Florence Regency this month released on a blog shows the reserve price being raised to S$600 million.
For Normanton Park, obtaining the requisite approval for the CSA in 11 days is considered a major feat. "This shows that a majority of the owners are in complete agreement with the terms in the CSA and are further keen to see the en bloc successfully done as soon as possible," said SS Chopra, who chairs the collective sales committee.
In fact, some 30 per cent was obtained on July 29, the same day the CSA was approved by the general body unanimously at an extraordinary general meeting, added Mr Chopra, a retired navy colonel.
This is the second attempt at an enbloc sale by owners of Normanton Park, after their first attempt in October 2015 with the same reserve price.
The 99-year leasehold project has 59 years left on its tenure. Under the Urban Redevelopment Authority's Master Plan 2014, the 660,999 square foot site is zoned for residential use with a 2.1 plot ratio.
Normanton Park is near Kent Ridge Park, the National University of Singapore, National University Hospital and businesses in the one-north development. Future owners or occupiers of the new project on the site would likely be professionals working in the vicinity as well as families whose children are studying in the education institutions nearby, along with those who would love to frequent a park, Mr Chopra said.
Mr Loh also pointed out that there is no comparable site like Normanton Park for high-rise residential development available for sale now, so there is no competing supply in the near term.
So far this year, there have already been seven successful collective sales worth S$2.5 billion; for the whole of last year, only three deals worth S$1 billion were closed.
Market watchers expect another few billion dollars worth of deals to close this year as the collective sales market roars back to life, fuelled by transactions-led property recovery and limited land up for grab in state tenders.
The en bloc fever has prompted more projects to kick-start the collective sales process.
The latest to hop onto the bandwagon are Sutton Place, a 44-unit condominium off Farrer Road, and Faber Garden, a 233-unit freehold condominium near Upper Thomson Road. Both are in the midst of appointing their marketing agents.
Hawaii Towers, a 135-unit freehold development at Meyer Road, is said to be trying its luck again at a collective sale.
Those already put up for en bloc tender include the 12-unit freehold Villa D'Este condominium in prime District 10 where owners are asking for S$96 million, as well as the 12-unit freehold Dunearn Court in the prime District 11 where owners are asking for S$38.8 million.
At 560-unit Tampines Court, owners of the privatised HUDC property are asking for S$960 million, which could be the largest since Farrer Court fetched the highest price of S$1.34 billion in 2007.
Source: SRX (10 Aug 2017)