Ghost Month property auctions fetch $133.9m

Singapore
Published September 23, 2006

Ghost Month property auctions fetch $133.9m

Record figures driven by sale of Sentosa Cove bungalow plots

By KALPANA RASHIWALA


A TOTAL of $133.9 million of property was sold at auctions in the double Hungry Ghost Month that ended on Thursday.

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This was the highest figure in at least nine years, says Colliers International.

Colliers executive director and auctioneer Grace Ng credited the record sales to the double Ghost Month - in each of the preceding eight years, there was only one Ghost Month - and the auction of a dozen bungalow plots on Sentosa Cove on Aug 25, which fetched record unit land prices of up to $1,039 psf of land area and a total of $86.34 million.

The Sentosa Cove auction helped drive up auction sales of residential properties to $108.4 million during the double Ghost Month - comprising $4.9 million in the first month (July 25 to Aug 23) and $103.6 million in the second month (Aug 24 to Sept 21). The latter figure is the highest in nine years, surpassing the $16.8 million recorded in 1999 when the property market was recovering after the Asian financial crisis.

The figure also exceeds highs registered during Ghost Months in 2002 ($15 million) and 2005 ($14.3 million). In both years, important policy changes easing the funding of residential property were announced before the Ghost Month.

Besides the Sentosa Cove auction, a transaction that boosted auction sales in the second Ghost Month this year was the Aug 30 sale of a penthouse at Silver Tower in Cairnhill for $6.12 million.

Besides the Sentosa Cove auction, a transaction that boosted auction sales in the second Ghost Month this year was the Aug 30 sale of a penthouse at Silver Tower in Cairnhill for $6.12 million, reflecting a premium of over 30 per cent that the buyer paid to factor in the potential of an en bloc sale of Silver Tower.

This trend may have been seen again on Thursday when a unit at Tulip Garden in Farrer Road was sold at auction by Knight Frank auction at $1.73 million. The firm estimates this price was about 5 per cent higher than the individual sales value of the unit.

'The bidders saw en bloc potential in the freehold estate, which has a land area of 317,000 sq ft,' said Knight Frank auctioneer Mary Sai.

The opening price was $1.63 million and after competitive bidding among three parties, the property was sold.

Colliers' figures show that 359 properties were put up for auction during this year's double Ghost Month - 181 properties in the first month and 178 in the second.

'This confirms that the stigma against the Ghost Month being a taboo period for property deals is wearing off,' said Ms Ng.