http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real...old-for-s2068m

Penthouse at Bishopsgate Residences sold for S$20.68m

Price works out to S$3,462 psf; GCB in Third Ave also fetches S$20.7m


Bishopsgate Residences, where a penthouse was sold by Kajima Overseas Asia.

Nov 26, 2016


TWO big-ticket freehold residential properties changed hands recently at an almost identical price.

Kajima Overseas Asia has sold a penthouse at Bishopsgate Residences in District 10 for S$20.68 million, or S$3,462 per square foot (psf) based on the strata area of 5,974 square feet. The unit has four ensuite bedrooms, kitchen, living, dining and family areas on the fifth level - above which is a rooftop terrace and private pool.

The buyer is a Singapore-incorporated company owned by two Japanese citizens. The 31-unit project has four penthouses; the five-storey development received its Temporary Occupation Permit in 2012.

Including the latest deal, caveats for the purchases of just seven units in the development have been lodged so far.

Kajima Overseas Asia is understood to have sold around 20 units in the project a few years ago to a special purpose vehicle set up by the group; this entity is understood to have then resold a few of the units but is now focused on leasing out the remaining units. Kajima Overseas Asia itself is understood to be left with only four or five units in the project which it intends to sell.

Singapore Christie's International Real Estate (Residential) managing director Samuel Eyo said: "The latest penthouse deal at Bishopsgate Residences shows that the rich are still looking for large apartments such as penthouses, and ground-floor units with big private enclosed spaces."

Bishopsgate Residences was built on a site zoned for residential use with 1.4 plot ratio (ratio of maximum gross floor area to land area). It is next to the Chatsworth Park Good Class Bungalow (GCB) Area. Kajima Overseas Asia developed the project on a site of about 69,000 sq ft that it bought through the collective sale of the former Bishops Walk townhouses in 2007. The Japanese group was reported to have paid more than S$130 million or S$1,500 psf of potential gross floor area including an estimated S$15.6 million development charge.

The second transaction, off Bukit Timah Road, is the sale of an old two-storey GCB along Third Avenue. Its price of S$20.7 million works out to nearly S$1,066 psf based on the freehold land area of 19,420 sq ft. "This is a fair market price for an old house on a downwards-sloping site," said Newsman Realty managing director KH Tan.

Realstar Premier, which is understood to have brokered the transaction, declined to comment.

Though the bungalow was built about 20 years ago, it has been renovated since then and has a resort-like theme with a large swimming pool next to coconut trees. Located near the Sixth Avenue MRT Station, the bungalow comes with five bedrooms and a maid's room.

The buyer is understood to be Suresh Nair, an obstetrician and gynaecologist who specialises in advanced fertility treatment.