In the first quarter of this year, a total of four real estate projects were successfully tendered in the collective sales market, with a total transaction value of $992.5 million, about 14 times higher than the same period last year, among which Tanglin Shopping Centre was sold for $868 million.
Kensington Park, a private housing project in Serangoon Gardens, once again released its sales market reception and was the highest-priced collective sale project this year, holding at over $1.28 billion.
Its condominium complex at Kensington Park Drive had already conducted a collective sale tender session in May, which ended with an aborted bid.
In 2018, the condominium had launched a collective sale program with an asking price of $1.05 billion, but less than 80% of homeowners agreed to the criteria and it was not launched for market tender.
In July of the same year, the government introduced real estate cooling measures and imposed a higher additional buyer's stamp duty, which affected the attractiveness of the large-scale collective sale project, which was 21.9% higher than the proposed price for that year.
On Oct. 4, CBRE, the real estate consultancy firm that undertook the sale, released a list saying that the project's opening price of $1.28 billion included $290.8 million in land appreciation fees, or a building plot ratio of $1,444 per square foot.
If you add the additional balcony area and the $273.1 million land appreciation fee, the building floor area ratio is equivalent to $1,407 per square foot.
As a result of the government's September increase in the land appreciation fee for residential land, the floor area ratio price for this tender has increased by 2.6% compared to the previous round of tenders in May.
The area has a total area of 491,000 square feet and the lease originates from 1878, making it one of the largest 999-year leasehold residential areas in Singapore.
According to the Urban Redevelopment Authority's 2019 Master Blueprint, the residential lots in the area have a plot ratio of 2.1 and can be built up to 24 stories high.
The lot can be redeveloped into a 1,000-unit hegemony project after receiving an endorsement from the Land Transport Authority.
Kingstar Park was built in 1990 with 316 units and is surrounded by predominantly landed private housing, with unobstructed views for condominium residents.
As a result, the lower floor units in the redevelopment project can be sold at a higher price, raising the average selling price of the entire project. Developers can also build larger units.
In particular, it would be very popular to provide buyers with strata-leased residential units with land.
