Property
Published January 4, 2007

Freehold residential site in District 11 up for collective sale


A FREEHOLD development on Thomson Road in highly sought-after District 11 has been put up for collective sale by tender - with a price tag of between $62.2 million and $68.2 million. Property firm Credo Real Estate, which is marketing the 47-unit The Albany, said the price includes an estimated development charge of about $170,000.

The site has a land area of 41,700 sq ft and a plot ratio of 2.8 - giving any potential residential project a gross floor area of 116,700 sq ft. This means that the asking price works out to $533-$584 per sq ft per plot ratio (psf ppr).

However, any buyer could also pick up another 12,000-13,000 sq ft of adjoining state land for which the Singapore Land Authority has given its in-principle approval, said Credo. The cost of the state land is estimated at $5.8 million, and the site similarly has a 2.8 plot ratio. Inclusive of the state land, the asking price for the residential site will be effectively lowered to $436-$475 psf ppr.

'This translates into a break-even cost of about $730-$775 psf of potential saleable floor area for the developers,' said Yong Choon Fah, Credo's director.

The maximum building height for both plots of land is 36 storeys. The successful developer could build some 135 units of an average size of about 1,100 sq ft each, Ms Yong said.

Current owners would each walk away with $1.2 million-$1.4 million per unit if the asking price is met - an en-bloc premium of about 60-70 per cent, she said.

The Albany is the first residential site to be put up for collective sale this year.

The site is diagonally opposite Thomson Medical Centre, and is a short distance from Revenue House, the Novena MRT Station, and the Novena Square and United Square shopping malls.

The tender for the site will close at 2.30pm on Feb 1.