April 28, 2007
$835M: Condo in Holland Road area sets new en bloc sale record
By Fiona Chan
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PHOTO: CHEW SENG KIM
AN AGEING condominium in the prime Holland Road area has just smashed the record for the largest collective sale in Singapore.
Leedon Heights fetched a whopping $835 million from developer GuocoLand, making it the most expensive estate to be successfully sold en bloc.
The price far surpasses the previous mark of $548 million, achieved by Gillman Heights in Alexandra Road in February.
Most owners of Leedon Heights' 314 units will reap about $2.35 million each, according to DTZ Debenham Tie Leung, which brokered the sale. That is more than double the last transacted price.
Penthouse owners in the 23-year-old estate are likely to reap almost double that, which is also more than twice the last open market price.
Ms Tang Wei Leng, director for investment advisory services at DTZ, said the tender for the estate was strongly contested. Five bids and one expression of interest, all from major players, were received by the time the tender closed yesterday.
GuocoLand's winning offer was higher than the estate's initial indicative price of $780 million.
Ms Tang also said the sale sets a benchmark unit price for the area. Including a development charge of $40.2 million, the Leedon Heights price works out to $1,062 per sq ft per plot ratio (psf ppr).
Nearby Holland Crest was sold last month for about $837 psf ppr, while Tulip Garden next door is now asking about $900 psf ppr, said Ms Tang.
She said the strong interest for Leedon Heights was not surprising as it is 'a very sought-after address'.
'When you think Leedon, you think good-class bungalows,' she said. 'This may be the only condo parcel with a Leedon address.'
Leedon Heights sits on a 522,322 sq ft plot off Holland Road and Farrer Road.
GuocoLand said yesterday that it plans to build a 12-storey block of 384 super-luxurious apartments on the site.
'We are very excited with the development potential of the sprawling site, which will allow us to be creative in our design and planning of the property,' said Mrs Trina Loh, managing director of GuocoLand Singapore.
The new units are expected to fetch about $1,800 to $2,000 psf, said Ms Tang of DTZ.
She added that the nearby Waterfall Gardens in Farrer Road is fetching an average of $1,500 to $1,600 psf.
'I would think that Leedon's location is better, and given the strength of the current market, it shouldn't be a problem to price the end products at $1,800 to $2,000 psf, or maybe even higher,' she said.
Leedon Heights, which was developed in the 1980s by Filipino-Chinese tycoon John Gokongwei, will be GuocoLand's fourth major freehold land acquisition in Singapore in the last 12 months.
It comes after Casa Rosita in Bukit Timah, Sophia Court in Dhoby Ghaut and Palm Beach Garden in the East Coast area.
GuocoLand also made headlines earlier this month by sinking $2 billion in a property project in central Beijing.
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