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Published April 27, 2010

More Marina Bay Suites units this week

CDL sells 360 Tree House units; 570 units at Waterbank at Dakota taken up

By KALPANA RASHIWALA


(SINGAPORE) The next batch of units at Marina Bay Suites will be released by the the project's developer on Thursday, BT understands.


The Sound: Far East Organization is looking to launch the 104-unit, low-rise freehold project in the East Coast area in mid-May. In its other projects, the developer has sold a total of 112 units so far this month

Prices have yet to be finalised, say sources.

The units to be released are expected to be above the 46th level sky terrace in the 66-storey development. This is unlike the initial batch of 90-odd units released by the developer late last year, which were mostly below the 46th storey; they were sold at between $1,900 per square foot and $2,600 psf.

At the nearby Marina Bay Residences, units have transacted in the sub-sale market at $2,100 psf to $3,050 psf, based on caveats lodged from January to early April this year.

However, at least one unit in the project, which is expected to receive Temporary Occupation Permit soon, was recently transacted at $3,500 psf - a three-bedroom-plus-study unit of 1,970 sq ft on the 46th floor.

Both projects have 99-year leasehold tenure and are being developed by a consortium controlled by Keppel Land, Cheung Kong Holdings and Hongkong Land Holdings.

Joseph Tan, executive director (residential) at CB Richard Ellis, which is one of the marketing agents for Marina Bay Suites, notes that owners of high-floor, prime facing units in the project are currently asking prices ranging from $3,800 to $5,600 psf.

Elsewhere in Singapore, developers continue to chalk up sales.

City Developments Ltd (CDL) has sold 360 units at its Tree House condo at Chestnut Avenue since previewing the project last week. The 99-year leasehold project has an average price of about $820 psf. To date, CDL has released 400 of the project's 429 units.

Over in the Holland Road area, CLSA Capital Partners Real Estate Fund and Lippo sold six units at their Holland Collection project last week. This means that the developers have sold eight units in the 26-unit project since previewing the project last month. Units sold last week include two penthouses (at about $6.3 million each) and a strata bungalow that fetched $6 million.

The buyers in the freehold project are mostly foreigners. The eight units sold to date are priced between $1,850 psf and $2,200 psf. The freehold project is four storeys high and has an attic level.

Meanwhile, UOL Group is understood to have achieved further sales of about 50 units at its Waterbank at Dakota condo last week, taking total sales to 570 units in the 616-unit project. The average price for the 99-year leasehold development is $1,170 psf. It has been on the market for about 21/2 weeks.

However, sales of condos on Sentosa Cove continue to be slow. For instance, CDL has to date sold about 25 units at The Residences at W Sentosa Cove. The 99-year leasehold project, priced at $2,500-3,000 psf, has been on the market for nearly a month now. To date, CDL has released 56 of the project's 228 units.

Ho Bee and IOI, which are developing The Seascape on a more attractive spot on Sentosa Cove, are said to have sold about 33 units to date. The project has an average price of about $2,700 psf, with achieved prices ranging from $2,619 psf to $3,145 psf. The Seascape came to market at about the same time as The Residences at W.

Meanwhile, property giant Far East Organization told BT that it has sold 112 homes so far this month (as at Sunday). This is close to its 128-unit sales for the whole of March.

Looking ahead, the group hopes to launch in mid-May a 104-unit, low-rise freehold development in the East Coast area. Unit sizes at The Sound range from 581 sq ft for a one bedder to 1,873 sq ft for a five-bedroom compact unit with an attic.

A CDL spokeswoman said that the group's planned launches include a condo at Pasir Ris located next to Livia, which will comprise 642 units, as well as a 158-unit condo on the former Concorde Residences site at Thomson Road.

'We are also in the midst of designing the redevelopment of Copthorne Orchid (hotel) into a condominium comprising about 150 units,' she added.