Ardmore
Park condo sold en bloc fetches record price
18
June 2007
AN
ARDMORE Park condominium has just smashed the record for the most
expensive collective sale in Singapore - less than a week since the
last record was set.
The Ardmore, a 24-unit freehold property off Orchard Road, was bought
by high-end developer SC Global for $262 million, some $40 million
above the initial asking price.
This
works out to an eyebrow-raising $2,338 per sq ft per plot ratio (psf
ppr), including a $16.6 million development charge. It far surpasses
the last record of $1,788 psf ppr set by Char Yong Gardens in Cairnhill
last Tuesday.
The Ardmore has also become the first condo here to cross the $2,000
psf ppr mark in a collective sale. Other nearby estates making similar
attempts include Grangeford Apartments at Leonie Hill and Elizabeth
Heights and Trendale Tower in the Cairnhill area.
With
this sale, each owner of The Ardmore - which has mainly three-bedroom
units of 1,991 sq ft in size - stands to get about $11 million on
average. No units have been transacted in the past two years, and
the single unit that changed hands in 2005 went for $904 psf.
The
coveted condo was said to have attracted five other bids from big-name
property developers in a public tender that closed last Tuesday. All
the bids were close, a sign that developers remain bullish on the
highest end of the property market despite the recent sharp run up
in prices.
Home
prices rose 4.8 per cent in the first quarter, after rising 10.2 per
cent last year. In the same periods, prices in prime districts shot
up 7.3 per cent and 25.4 per cent, respectively.
The
Ardmore sits on the last site with redevelopment potential in Ardmore
Park, one of Singapore's choicest residential districts. Most of the
nearby condos are either fairly new or already sold for redevelopment.
SC
Global's winning offer for The Ardmore means it will have to sell
units in the new project at more than $3,300 psf, and likely closer
to $4,000 psf, said property experts.
Mr
Lui Seng Fatt, regional and head of investments at Jones Lang LaSalle,
believes these prices are 'doable'.
'Ardmore
is among the best addresses in Singapore,' he said. 'The price that
SC Global is paying for this site is certainly no surprise.'
Mr
Nicholas Mak, director of research and consultancy at Knight Frank,
estimated that the breakeven price for the project could go up to
$3,200 psf ppr. He said 45 to 50 new units of about 2,000 sq ft each
could be built.
The
42,565 sq ft plot can host a new 36-storey development with a total
floor area of 119,181 sq ft, SC Global said yesterday. Chairman and
chief executive officer Simon Cheong said the group intends to build
a high-end luxury condo.
'The
Ardmore Park address is well-established in the international community
as an upmarket residential enclave,' he said in a statement.
This
purchase brings SC Global's total bill for collective sales since
last year to about $1 billion. Last year, it spent $648 million on
Paterson Tower, Hilltops Apartments and some terrace houses in Cairnhill.
The
Ardmore sale is the latest in a string of record-breaking collective
sales and comes a day after the Government said it is keeping an eye
on fast-rising home prices.
Although
Minister of National Development Mah Bow Tan said buyers of 'multimillion-dollar'
homes in the central regions 'can take care of themselves', he added
that it was important to ensure that 'prices do not overshoot'.
Last
week, the Government released a slew of new residential sites, mainly
in suburban areas, in what is being seen as a move to steady the market.
