condo 40% sold before launch

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http://www.straitstimes.com/archive/friday/premium/money/story/condo-40-sold-launch-20140307

Condo 40% sold before launch

Published on Mar 07, 2014

http://i.imgur.com/gPUB3FM.jpg
An artist's impression of the 52-unit freehold Cluny Park Residence, which will be launched for sale tomorrow. The high-end condo's location - it faces the Botanic Gardens - is a major selling point. -- PHOTO: TUAN SING

A NEW condominium project in the tony Cluny Park area could be a breath of fresh air for the moribund high-end market when it is launched for sale tomorrow.

The 52-unit freehold Cluny Park Residence opened for preview late last year and has received commitments for 20 units so far, its developer Tuan Sing told a briefing yesterday.

Consultants said the take-up rate of nearly 40 per cent was strong and signalled that the ultra-rich were still keen on projects with attractive locations.

Calling it a "surprisingly strong performance", Savills Singapore research head Alan Cheong said the healthy sales reflected the project's plum Cluny Park Road location.

"You're looking at the ultra rich, who are masters of being able to read the market. They could be buying because they read it as bottoming or close to bottoming out," he added.

The condo faces the Botanic Gardens and is next to the French embassy. It is near prestigious schools such as Nanyang Primary School and Singapore Chinese Girls' School. Prices begin from $2.3 million for a 754 sq ft two-bedder and go up to $8.3 million for a 2,842 sq ft four-bedroom penthouse - or a price range of $2,920 per sq ft (psf) to $3,050 psf. The project has only two-bedders and four-bedders.

Chief executive William Liem said at the project's Dempsey Road showflat yesterday that the four-bedroom units were more popular, "which we didn't expect". Of the 20 units sold, six are two-bedders and the rest are four-bedders. He added he himself had picked up a four-bedder.

R'ST Research director Ong Kah Seng said the project's price point of about $3,000 psf was attractive, given its location and exclusivity. Although smaller units with cheaper total prices may be generally selling faster now, "buyers with strong financing capacity will still prefer quality large units in well-conceptualised projects and localities", he said.

"They understand that in the longer term, it will be easier to extract intrinsic resale value from these units, but this is not quite so for small units in high-end projects or prime projects with too many units."

Cluny Park Residence is designed by SCDA Architects, which is behind other posh freehold projects such as The Marq on Paterson Hill and Botanika at Holland Road. It is expected to be completed in September 2016.

Another small mixed-use project on Balestier Road will also open for preview tomorrow. Ascent @ 456, developed by TA Corp, has 28 residential units. These are all three-bedders ranging from 689 sq ft to 829 sq ft.

Agents said they could be priced from more than $900,000 to around $1.2 million, or more than $1,400 psf.

MELISSA TAN