Saturday, March 13, 2010

Rush for condo units despite record prices

BUYERS have snapped up units at a West Coast condominium despite the developer setting record prices for a mass market project.

Cheung Kong (Holdings) has sold all 100 units of The Vision released for its Phase 1 sale at prices ‘from $1,000 to $1,200 per sq ft (psf)’ for the two- to four-bedroom units, according to sales manager Cannas Ho yesterday.

However, market talk suggests that around 130 units or more have been booked. Sales apparently started on Thursday, when buyers handed over their cheques to confirm sales of 80 or so units without even viewing the showflat.

‘The response is unexpected. However, it proves that there is strong demand for mass market homes,’ said Colliers International’s director for research and advisory, Ms Tay Huey Ying.

The Hong Kong-based developer said the 100 units sold included two penthouses and ‘nearly half of the 14 strata terrace units’.

The Vision, a 99-year leasehold condo across the road from West Coast Park, has 281 apartments and 14 strata terrace units.

It is next to Blue Horizon, where units in the resale market have gone for $764 to $841 psf this year.

Ms Ho told a media briefing on Wednesday that The Vision will be the most luxurious building in the area.

She said then that the plan was to offer a second phase for sale by the end of the year.

The highest price done – for a strata terrace unit – was $3.2 million, she added yesterday.

About 70 per cent of the buyers are locals. The rest are from Malaysia, China and the United States.

More than 60 per cent are upgraders, while the rest are long-term investors in the leasing market, Ms Ho said.

Yesterday, Cheung Kong would say only that it had sold 100 units and that it would release another 20 units over the weekend.

A property expert said some buyers are clearly motivated by low interest rates and the fear of prices rising further, given the high land bids seen in recent tenders.

Colliers’ Ms Tay said: ‘There’s a possibility that these record prices can help to raise the negotiation power of home owners in the vicinity in asking for higher prices.

‘It is also likely to have the effect of raising the value of mass market homes in Singapore.’

Source: Straits Times, 13 Mar 2010

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