Ravi Chandran
Three Adjacent Freehold Landed Homes In Lorong N Telok Kurau Sold Via Collective Sale For $23.6 Million
PropNex announced on Jan 4th that that three adjacent freehold landed homes in Lorong N Telok Kurau have been sold via collective sale for $23.6 million to Baywind Properties Pte Ltd, a 50:50 joint venture company formed by ABR Holdings Limited and LWH Holdings Pte Ltd.
The site of the three adjacent freehold landed homes in District 15 – 93B, 93C, and 95 Lorong N Telok Kurau – have a combined freehold land area of about 18,507 sq ft.
Under the Urban Redevelopment Authority’s Master Plan 2019, the site of the three adjacent freehold landed homes are zoned Residential with a plot ratio of 1.4.
Tracy Goh, Head of Investment and Collective Sales at PropNex, said, “We witnessed keen interest from various parties – including local developers and new entrants – who were looking to acquire redevelopment sites to build boutique apartments, in view of the rising confidence brought about by healthy local demand for new condominiums or apartments.”
She added: “The depleting unsold inventory and the excellent take-up rate of 70% or more for recent new launches, such as The Linq At Beauty World, Penrose, and Clavon, have also encouraged developers to look at stepping up on their land acquisition activity. Developers’ growing appetite for land could fuel a revival in collective sale, given the limited residential sites under the Government Land Sales (GLS) programme. In particular, a recent GLS tender for the Tanah Merah Kechil Link site drew 15 bids with a bullish top bid of $930 psf per plot ratio.”
The three adjacent freehold landed homes in Lorong N Telok Kurau comprise a detached and a pair of semi-detached properties. Subject to relevant approvals from the authorities, the successful tenderer plans to build 24 residential units on the redevelopment site.
Ms Goh noted, “Despite the economic downturn, we have observed that many buyers are committed to investing for the long-term and are looking beyond the current challenges. The pandemic has not dampened the mood of home buyers as we have seen from the rebound in new home sales in the second half of 2020. Notably, this healthy underlying demand for homes, the positive property market outlook, as well as Singapore’s strong fundamentals and the effective Covid-19 containment efforts have caught the eye of overseas developers who are increasingly interested to invest here.”
The collective sale tender for the three adjacent freehold landed homes in Lorong N Telok Kurau was launched on 19 November 2020 and closed at 3pm on 29 December 2020.
“This collective sale tender was the last one to close in 2020 and we are pleased to have garnered a successful outcome for the owners on their first en bloc sale attempt. Over the next 12 months, we expect to see a pick up in activity in the collective sale market with more smallish to mid-sized sites being put up for en bloc sale. On the ground, we are starting to see property owners and collective sale hopefuls getting more excited amid the market resilience, robust home sales, and bullish land bids,” said Ms Goh.
The Lorong N Telok Kurau site is located in an amenity-rich area near East Coast Road, which is known for its F&B offerings, and it is also a stone’s throw from the East Coast Park beach. Other amenities in the vicinity include the Parkway Parade mall and the 112 Katong mall (which is currently undergoing renovation).
In addition, there are also several popular schools nearby, including CHIJ (Katong) Primary, CHIJ Katong Convent, Ngee Ann Primary School, St. Stephen’s School, Tao Nan School, St. Patrick’s School, and Victoria Junior College. The site is within walking distance (about 500m away) to the upcoming Marine Terrace MRT Station on the Thomson-East Coast Line that is slated to be ready in 2024.
Mr Paul, chief mortgage officer at iCompareLoan, said that “although the Covid-19 circuit breaker makes real estate sales difficult at the moment, the site of the three adjacent freehold landed homes in Telok Kurau is in a good location and is hard to come by.” Mr Ho believes smart investors who are flush with cash, will resort to value hunting instead of choosing residential properties which are still selling at unbelievable prices.
Mr Ho added that given the land scarcity in Singapore, demand for commercial and residential properties in Singapore will continue to rise over the long term. He pointed out that Singapore continues to be a global financial centre and a trade hub with high livability scores – all of which attracts high net worth investors to the Republic. All these factors will inevitably fuel demand for real estate in Singapore he added.
Mr Ho believes that value buys in the property market right now are are landed inter-terrace houses where the per square feet price on the built-up area is usually less than $1,000 and commercial properties. But Mr Ho cautioned that the bigger challenge for buyers of commercial property is securing the best commercial loans.
“With the right loan, the buyer can save thousands, if not tens of thousands of dollars,” he said. Adding, “which is why they would have to work with established mortgage brokers who can provide them free service.
Telok Kurau is an established residential zone that grew from an old fishing village into a blissful suburban neighborhood. Despite being one of Singapore’s older districts, it happens to be very well-planned, having streets that run neatly parallel and perpendicular to each other.
The estate is populated by landed homes and shop houses, fostering a pleasant setting for community and family living. Making it even more ideal are the surrounding malls, schools, and various facilities, not to mention the nearby East Coast Park. That’s why Telok Kurau in District 15 is very appealing, both among property developers and home buyers.
