Property
Published October 10, 2006

Freehold condominium unit sets new record price for Newton area

By WONG WEI KONG
A UNIT at Setia Residences - a freehold development by the Cheng family of the Prima group - was sold for $1,600 per sq ft over the weekend, setting a new record for the Newton area.


Setia Residences: The 23rd floor unit was sold for $5.4 million at $1,600 per sq ft over the weekend

The 3,348 sq ft unit, on the 23rd floor, was sold for $5.4 million last Saturday, William Wong, business development director of Century 21, the exclusive marketing agent for the project in Singapore and overseas, told BT.

The buyer is a Singapore permanent resident who bought the unit for his own use.

Ten more units of the exclusive 24-unit condominium project at Evelyn Road - designed by Architect 61 - will be offered for sale. 'We're going for $1,650 for the next unit, on the 18th floor,' said Mr Wong. Century 21 has also started marketing the units in Hong Kong and has already received indications of interest, he added.

The highest price fetched for the Newton area before this was around $1,400 psf to $1,500 psf. Two nearby projects in the Newton area - City Developments' Residences @ Evelyn and Lippo Group's Newton One - have sold at average prices of $1,200 psf to $1,300 psf.

The Setia Residences were developed on a 38,000 sq ft plot of land that has been long held by the Cheng family. A 10-storey building was demolished to make way for the project.

Family members hold the remaining units of the project, but they could release more units for sale if there is strong demand, said Bernard Cheng, executive director of Prima Portfolio and an unit owner.

The Newton area is benefiting from the spillover effect from the rising prices of Orchard Road homes.

Just a short hop away at Scotts Road, CapitaLand has achieved prices of over $2,000 psf for its high-end Scotts HighPark located next to the Newton MRT Station. Private property prices have been rising steadily this year.

After three quarters of the year, private property prices have gone up by more than the 5 per cent projected earlier by market players for the whole year.

Housing prices are now 5.8 per cent higher than at the end of 2005, according to estimates by the Urban Redevelopment Authority.