UOL, CDL to release condos for preview this week

AT least two new condos are expected to be released this week - 368 Thomson and The Terrene @ Bukit Timah.

UOL Group and LaSalle Investment Management are jointly developing The Terrene on the former Rainbow Gardens site in the Toh Tuck/Jalan Jurong Kechil area.

The 999-year leasehold, 5-storey project will have 172 units, ranging from one bedders (starting from 506 sq ft) to five-bedroom penthouses (of up to 3,025 sq ft). It will be close to two green lungs - Bukit Timah Nature Reserve and Bukit Batok Nature Park - and about half a kilometre from the Beauty World MRT Station, which is being built.

Prices of typical units are expected to be in the $1,200-1,400 psf range. However, one bedders could touch around $1,500 psf. Ground floor apartments with private enclosed areas could be priced closer to the $1,000 psf mark, BT understands.

In October last year, UOL announced it had taken a half-share in the Rainbow Gardens site, which had been bought by the LaSalle Asia Opportunity II fund in a collective sale a few years earlier.

Terrene is being marketed by Knight Frank and Jones Lang LaSalle.

For UOL, the preview of The Terrene follows the virtual sell-out of its Waterbank at Dakota, a 616-unit condo fronting Geylang River and next to Dakota MRT Station. The 99-year leasehold condo's launch in April was timed with the opening of the station.

Over in the Balestier/Thomson Road area, City Developments Ltd is getting ready to preview 368 Thomson later this week on the former Concorde Residence site.

Prices in the 36-storey freehold development are expected to range from $1,300-1,500 psf. The condo's 157 units range from one-bedders to penthouses, with unit sizes of 689 sq ft to 3,391 sq ft. The project is being marketed by Huttons.

Meanwhile, over in the Bedok Reservoir location, Frasers Centrepoint and Far East Organization have sold 93 of the 150 units released since June 25 at the Waterfront Gold condo. The average price for the 99-year leasehold project is $950 psf. Waterfront Gold comprises 361 units and will be the first condo in Singapore to feature a skypark. This will be on the roof of the 15-storey project.

Property consultants say home sales are still slow, with many potential buyers still glued to the World Cup, which ends in the wee hours of Monday next week. More developers are then expected to begin releasing projects again.

'Buyers will do their homework and evaluation, but the good thing is that the Singapore stock market has still fared relatively better than some overseas markets,' notes DTZ executive director (consulting) Ong Choon Fah.

'The underlying desire to buy a private residential property here is still there among owner occupiers and local investors, as there's still a lot of liquidity. And our market is quite unique, with a large part of our population living in public housing, which provides a natural feed to the private housing market,' she added.

Source: Business Times, 7 Jul 2010