http://www.straitstimes.com/Money/St...ry_823735.html

Developer's bid triggers tender for Farrer Road site

Published on Jul 19, 2012

By Yasmine Yahya


A RESIDENTIAL site in Farrer Road has been triggered for sale by public tender after an acceptable minimum bid was lodged.

A developer offered $28.89 million for the land, which was made available for sale through the Reserve List system on April 30.

Mr Lee Sze Teck, the senior manager of research and consultancy at property firm Dennis Wee Group, said that the bid amounts to $699 per sq ft per plot ratio (psf ppr).

'The trigger price is 15.1 per cent lower than the trigger price for another site nearby at Farrer Drive at $823 psf ppr,' he said.

'There could be up to 10 bidders for the site. The estimated top bid could be in the range of $950 to $1,000 psf, slightly lower than the successful sale price for the Farrer Drive site.'

The 99-year lease site has an area of about 0.27ha and is expected to generate a gross floor area of about 3,839 sq m, or about 41,323 sq ft.

The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) said it could yield about 40 housing units.

It is near the Botanic Gardens MRT station and is well connected to major roads and expressways such as Bukit Timah Road, Dunearn Road, Farrer Road as well as the Pan-Island Expressway.

The lower trigger price lodged with the URA was probably influenced by lacklustre sales at recently launched centrally located projects, the prospect of more sites being released this year and renewed concerns over Europe's economy, said Mr Lee.

There are also unsold units in the nearby projects, he added.

'With more buyers looking to buy from older project launches, the developer who triggered the site for sale knows that it has to be competitive in its pricing to win over buyers in this current market.'

The URA will launch the public tender for the site in about two weeks. The tender period for the site will be for about five weeks.

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