More than 120 units of Wing Tai’s Foresque Residences have been sold since the project was launched earlier this month. So far, 306 of the 496 units have been released for sale.
Belysa, an executive condominium in Pasir Ris, has moved 158 apartments – nearly half of its 315 units – since it launched last Wednesday.
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Austral View at Tanjong Rhu, on a 30,540sqft site, was sold for $81 million through a collective sale to a Chinese developer which last month picked up the adjacent Fortredale (click on below for our previous post about the collective sale for Fortredale).
http://sgproptalk.blogspot.com/2011/04/en-bloc-news-fortredale-sold-for-65.html
Austral View’s sale is subject to approval from the Strata Titles Board. CB Richard Ellis brokered the sale of the property, which works out to $1,342psf ppr inclusive of an estimated Development Charge (DC) of slightly over $5 million. The unit land price is the same as that achieved for next-door Fortredale, which was transacted at $65 million.
If amalgamated, the two freehold sites will result in a total freehold land area of 53,560sqft – sufficient for a new condo development of about 108 units averaging 1,000sqft. Both the Fortredale and Austral View sites are zoned for residential use with a 2.1 plot ratio and 24-storey maximum height under Master Plan 2008.
Prime residential freehold property Dragon Mansion at 14 Spottiswoode Park has been put up for collective sale tender by its sole marketing agent Jones Lang LaSalle.
Another Dragon Mansion site, located at 18 Spottiswoode Park, was sold to Roxy Pacific subsidiary Roxy Land in December 2009 for S$100.8 million. It has since been redeveloped into the new Spottiswoode 18.
The land site for sale has a redevelopment area of 39,176sqft. It includes another land site housing a substation.
The redevelopment area has a gross plot ratio of 2.8 and its new property can be built up to 36 storeys. There is no development charge payable on the site.
Subject to approval, an adjoining state land of 1,167sqft costing about $1.22 million could be added into the redevelopment area.
This will bring the total land area including the state land to a potential gross floor area of 112,959sqft. It can yield about 112 apartment units at 950sqft each, said Jones Lang LaSalle.
Dragon Mansion comprises an 18-storey block with 68 units at 1,324sqft each. It is within walking distance to Outram MRT Station and Tanjong Pagar MRT Station, and a short drive away from the central business districts and daily amenities.
The indicative price for Dragon Mansion is between $150 million and $156 million, or from $1,340 to $1,392psf ppr, said Jones Lang LaSalle.
Jones Lang LaSelle’s head of investments Stella Hoh said: “The subject site offers the potential developer an opportunity to acquire a prime piece of land in the CBD fringe area.
“Rejuvenation of Tanjong Pagar such as the relocation of the port and railway station and plans for Tanjong Pagar to be the next ‘waterfront city’ will inevitably add value to the potential of the subject site”.
The Dragon Mansion tender closes at 3pm on July 5.
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This unit in question is a 1432sqft, 4-bedroom (Type D2).
As you enter the main door, you find the living/dining room – this is a rectangular area that seems a tad small for a 4-bedder unit. However, it can still comfortably fit a 6-seater long dining table and a 3-seater sofa (see photo). The area comes with 60cm x 60cm compressed marble floors (Tree House only has homogenous-tile flooring) and 2.9m ceiling.
The other thing we like about the common bathroom is a “feature wall” made from ceramic tiles with a “wood-like” look/feel to it.
The 2 common bedrooms are almost square-shaped and seem quite good size – the absence of bay windows may be a contributing factor. The bedrooms come with small timber-strip flooring, unlike Tree House where you only get laminate floors. 
In case you are wondering what a 4-bedder in Foresque will cost you, here are prices for both a mid and high-floor units
• #06-10 (1432sqft, Type D2): $1,484,000 or $1,036psf
• #21-10 (1432sqft, Type D2): $1,656,500 or $1,156psf
We were told that for a limited period, developer is providing “stamp duty rebate” as incentive to buyers – this rebate will be given upon TOP of the project.
What we like:
• The layout of the blocks are designed to maximum the number of units with unblocked view.
• NO bay windows or planters for all unit types. This makes the apartments feel “bigger” than originally perceived. The 3- and 4-bedroom showflats are surprisingly spacious compared to the actual size.
• The quality of furnishing and fittings are definitely better than what we have seen in Tree House.
• Primary school wise, there are two within 1-km of Foresque: CHIJ Our Lady Queen (for girls) and Bukit Panjang Primary (co-ed)
What we dislike:
• Location – this is the main issue we have with Foresque, which is located almost in the middle of nowhere. The nearest amenities are those found around the Zhenghua HDB estate, which is probably a good 15 minutes’ walk away. The Pending LRT station is at least a 10 minutes’ walk, while you will need transportation to get to the nearest MRT Station (i.e. the upcoming Hillview Station, scheduled to be completed in 2015). The wife and I were told that a shutter-bus service to Hillview MRT Station will be provided to residents for the first year. However, we reckon that you are probably stuffed if you do not own a vehicle.
• There is no “wow” factor in the facility offerings in Foresque, which definitely pale in comparison to Tree House.
Our Verdict: At over $1000psf (which is a new price benchmark for 99-year projects in D23), the wife and I certainly expected more from Foresque Residences. Although the interior quality of the apartments are apparently better than Tree House, Foresque is still way too expensive if you take into account the project overall and especially the locale. Buyers of Tree House during its initial launch at average price of $830psf back in April of last year must be mighty proud of themselves now…
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Project Name: Foresque Residences
Tenure: 99-year leasehold wef 10 Jan 2011
Location: Petir Road
District: 23
Site Area: 244,000sqft
TOP (estimated): 2Q 2014
Total Units: 496
No. of Blocks/Storey: 5 Blocks with 24-Storey each
Car Park Lots: Basement Parking with 506 lots
Developer: Wing Tai Asia 
When the wife and I look at Foresque Residences, we cannot help but compare this project with its next door neighbour – Tree House. Both projects are similar in terms of tenure, location, land size and even down to total number of units (496 for Foresque versus 429 for Tree House).
As some of you may recall, Wing Tai bought the Foresque site for $177.4 million (or $345psf) in October last year. The site is along Petir Road – this is where the main entrance of Foresque is located – whereas you enter Tree House via Chestnut Drive. 
For those of you who are concerned about the possible traffic noise coming from BKE (especially the two 4-bedder stacks in Block 105), you be pleased to know that the Foresque site is about 160m away from the BKE and separated by Zhenghua Park in between. 
Foresque is designed by Arc Studio Architecture & Urbanism – the same folks that gave us Pinnacle @Duxton – and consists of 5 blocks of 24-storey each (Tree House has only 4 blocks, also 24-storey each). The project was launched on May 15 with 7 stacks in 3 blocks released for sale
• Block 101: Stacks #01, #02 & #05 (1-bedroom)
• Block 105: Stacks #10 (4-bedroom), #11 & #12 (3-bedroom)
• Block 107: Stack #14 (3+study)
The leasehold project offers a mix of 1 to 4-bedroom apartments as well as penthouses and cabana (ground-floor) units:
• 1-Bedroom: 463sqft
• 2-Bedroom: 667/ 710/ 732/ 743sqft
• 3-Bedroom: 1130 & 1184sqft
• 3+Study: 1238/ 1270/ 1281sqft
• 4-Bedroom: 1399/ 1421/ 1432sqft
• Penthouse: 1119 – 2573sqft
• Cabana: 1515 – 2013sqft
The penthouses and cabana units come with their own private Jacuzzis. 
The other unique feature of the project is that there is no 2nd floor in every block – the cabana units occupy the ground floor of each block and thereafter, the next level is the 3rd floor, which is elevated by some 20m from the ground. So your 3rd floor unit in Foresque is effectively as high as the 8th floor unit in Tree House.
In terms of facilities, Foresque does provide your fair share of different “themed” pools and pavilions as well as 2 tennis courts (ala Tree House). The club house also boasts of a function room, AV room and gourmet kitchen. However, the facility offerings seem somewhat “plain vanilla” (at least to us anyway) compared to Tree House.
Parking lots are available in the basement and you actually get a few more lots (506) versus the total number of units (496), which is quite rare these days.
There are three showflats on display at the sales gallery – this ranges from 2- to 4-bedroom units.
For the purpose of our review, we shall concentrate on the 4-bedder (Type D2) unit. Look out for the post tomorrow (or maybe the day after)!
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The wife and I were at the sales gallery of Foresque Residences yesterday.
The review will be posted as soon as we (or rather, I) shake off this nasty flu bug… kerchoo!
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The wife and I do not have the latest May 2011 sales (yet), but hopefully the YTD April figures will suffice.
d’Leedon & Silversea (YTD April 2011)http://www.scribd.com/embeds/56509289/content?start_page=1&view_mode=list&access_key=key-40i48e67nburc687w72(function() { var scribd = document.createElement(“script”); scribd.type = “text/javascript”; scribd.async = true; scribd.src = “http://www.scribd.com/javascripts/embed_code/inject.js”; var s = document.getElementsByTagName(“script”)[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(scribd, s); })();
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Small apartment or condominium units – including the smaller “shoeboxes” – have captured the attention of the residential property market here in recent years with their popularity among buyers and the high per-square-foot prices that they are able to command.
This trend towards small units is also occurring in major cities such as London, Tokyo and Hong Kong. It is part of an evolutionary process where the rise in real estate values is accompanied by demographic and lifestyle changes.
There are now more singles and couples without children, people who spend less time at home and those who dine out more often, etc. And the trend is fast gaining momentum.
In 1996, there were only 114 transactions in Singapore involving small units of up to 60 sq m, based on caveats lodged, representing only 0.8% of the total number of private non-landed residential transactions.
The bull market in 2007 saw small units marketed in greater numbers, with 1,669 sold, accounting for 5.1% of non-landed transactions.
By last year, the number of sales involving such units had increased substantially to 4,240, or 13.3% of non-landed transactions.
This trend has continued into this year, with the first quarter seeing 1,121 small units sold, accounting for 19.3% of non-landed sales.
Since last year, transactions have involved units as small as 24 sq m, while more than a quarter of those within the 60 sq m threshold were between 30 and 40 sq m.
Absolute prices have varied from $350,000 for a secondary market unit to $2.72 million for a high-end one at Scotts Square. Unit rates also varied widely, with suburban units fetching around $800 psf, while the Scotts Square transaction was at $4,358 psf.
Purchasers of Small Units
Small units are only suitable for occupation by singles or couples without children. While some singles or couples have bought with occupation in mind, most of the buyers of small units have been investors. What is notable is that many HDB residents have been buying small units.
In 2007, of the 1,669 small units transacted, 35.9% of the buyers had HDB addresses. This proportion increased to 47.7% last year and 49.9% in the first quarter of this year.
The table shows that about 56% of small unit buyers with HDB addresses purchased at a price of $650,000 or less. 
Another 35% or so bought their units at between $650,000 and $1 million, while less than 9% purchased at beyond $1 million.
Buyers of small units with private addresses, on the other hand, were more active in the mid- to upper price ranges, with nearly two-thirds buying at $650,000 and above.
This suggests that buyers with private addresses are less constrained by their budgets compared to those with HDB addresses.
As most buyers with HDB addresses have families, it is unlikely that they bought the small units for upgrading. This shows a growing trend among HDB households to invest for rental returns.
But due to budget constraints, they are able to afford only the smaller units with lower absolute prices. Anecdotally, we have heard of that ideal financial or retirement arrangement where one continues to live in an HDB flat while having a private property to provide rental income.
Examine the Fundamentals
Did the buyers of small units, especially those who are more budget-constrained, buy because they genuinely assessed that the product would fetch a good return or were they drawn by the affordable absolute price per se?
With an increasing supply of small units, will there be sufficient rental or owner-occupier demand? If the size of the unit is too small, would it be practical for living? If a development has a high proportion of small units, what will be the impact of the increased density on the living environment and traffic? These are issues that buyers of small units should ponder over.
Small units are not sure winners when it comes to leasing and will be subject to competition from others on the market.
Only those with strong attributes will attract tenants readily and at good rental. Generally, these would be centrally located, within or near the city or in proximity to amenities and transport.
As the trend towards small units continues, buyers will be presented with even more investment opportunities but they have to consider the fundamentals thoroughly in order to make better buying decisions.
In other words, not all small units are built equal, despite the common perception of affordability of such units. So caveat emptor!
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More than a day has passed since the tender for Pearlbank Apartments closed at 3pm on May 25. However, there has been no news from anywhere concerning the tender status.
The wife and I are now wondering if Knight Frank is doing a “Pine Grove” on us all with regards to the tender result of Pearlbank…
If anyone has any update on the above collective sale, do share!
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Sim Lian Group has the highest number of unsold residential units in its land bank – some 2,781 homes – built up from government land sales (GLS) sites bought in 2010 and 2011, a new report shows.
According to the new report from Knight Frank, Sim Lian has in its portfolio 1,441 private homes, 600 executive condo (EC) units as well as 680 HDB flats that will be offered for sale under the design, build and sell scheme (DBSS).
City Developments was placed second. The developer has 211 private homes and 1,060 EC units left from GLS sites it bought from 2010 onwards.
Five other developers each have more than 800 unsold units from GLS sites acquired in the last 17 months: United Engineers, Hong Leong Group, Far East Organization, MCL Land and Chip Eng Seng.
Developers are likely to grow their land banks in the second half of this year as the government is expected to roll out another bumper supply of residential sites under its twice-yearly GLS programme, Knight Frank said.
“We expect a significant new supply of private housing for the H2 2011 GLS programme to meet demand,” said Knight Frank’s head of consultancy and research Png Poh Soon. In particular, more new EC sites could be released following the strong take-up seen for recent EC launches such as Esparina Residences, Prive and The Canopy, he said.
“Developers with a sizeable number of mass market homes in their land banks are likely to be more selective. Some may choose to offload their existing land banks before acquiring new sites, creating a window of opportunity for others,” Mr Png said.
Developers with substantial land banks should be able to clear their stock if demand for mass market homes continues to hold up in the absence of new cooling measures, he added.
Savills Singapore similarly noted that demand for mass market homes can be expected to remain robust in the coming months. “With more mass market launches coming on stream, the fresh infusion of housing would bring more attractively priced units onto the market,” Savills said in a new report.
But analysts noted that policy changes could soften demand for private properties as well as ECs and DBSS flats.
To determine the housing stock held by each developer, Knight Frank reviewed all the winning bids for GLS sites launched in 2010 and year-to-date 2011, then discounted those units that have already been sold in launched projects.
Two things come to our minds after reading the above news report:
• The housing stock held by each developer is actually much higher if you include all the unsold homes from privately acquired (collective sales) sites – if we recall correct, the last count by Kim Eng Research back in mid-April 2011 was over 20,000 units!
• Everyone is worried about new/additional property cooling measures by the Government, but nobody seems concern that the global economy may just head south in the next couple of months…
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SG PropTalk 