40% of units at Dakota condo sold

UOL Group has sold about 40 per cent of its 616-unit Waterbank at Dakota condo by yesterday. By some analysts’ calculations, UOL stands to book pretax earnings of $135 million to $160 million progressively from the project as it is built once it is fully sold. Prices of typical units range from ‘above $1,000 psf to above $1,300 psf’. Buyers were predominantly Singaporeans.

Smaller units were first to be snapped up in the 99-year leasehold project, next to the soon-to-open Dakota MRT Station and fronting Geylang River.

In absolute price quantum, the cheapest one-bedroom unit cost $570,000, for a 484-sq ft unit on the second level. Two-bedders start from $979,000 for an 883 sq ft unit. All five penthouses (2,390 sq ft to 2,820 sq ft) have also been sold at $2.8 million to $3.4 million.

UOL has released more than 300 of the total 616 units in the development, which is due for completion in 2014. The group is expected to save some units for the project’s official launch next Saturday, the same day as the opening of Dakota Station.

The developer opened the showflat to staff and associates and consultants earlier this week before inviting other buyers yesterday. ‘The Dakota area has tremendous potential to be the next prime area at the fringe of the city,’ said UOL chief operating officer Liam Wee Sin. He also pointed to the area’s strategic location near two major growth precincts – Kallang Riverside and Paya Lebar. Waterbank is also near Old Airport Road hawker centre.

Unit sizes range from 484 sq ft for a one-bedder to 2,820 sq ft for a penthouse. The project has 175 one-bedroom and one bedroom-plus-study units, 78 two bedders, 271 three-bedders, 37 four-bedders and five penthouses. There are 11 cabana units, which are two-bedroom units perched on a landscaped deck overlooking the swimming pool and with their own carpark lots.

UOL’s preview of the project comes just seven months after it was awarded the site last September at $508 per square foot per plot ratio (psf ppr). City Developments is due to release later this month a 429-unit project at Chestnut Avenue. It will build the 24-storey condo on a site bought at a state tender last August for $280 psf ppr.

The short turnaround time reflects developers’ strategy of riding the current buying momentum for mass and mid-market homes. It also suggests that projects on sites sold by the government from January to May this year stand a good chance of being launch-ready before the year runs out.

Source: Business Times, 10 Apr 2010