Ravi Chandran
Pinetree Condominium an upmarket condominium in the Balmoral Park enclave has been been launched for en bloc sale with a reserve price of $148 million. Each owner stands to receive between $2.57 million to $4.09 million if the en bloc sale is successfully concluded.
SLP Scotia, the marketing agent for the en bloc sale of the upmarket condominium said that the site sits on 41,276 square feet (sq ft) of land, consisting of predominantly three-bedroom units measuring between 1,162 sq ft and 1,851 sq ft. The site is zoned ‘residential’ with a plot ratio of 1.6 as per the 2014 masterplan, which translates to a gross floor area (GFA) of 66,177 sq ft.
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Successful bidders would not have to pay development charge as the upmarket condominium’s baseline record from the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) is 75,115,71 sq ft.
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En Bloc Sales Process Singapore – A Definitive Step-by-step Guide
The upmarket condominium is situated in an ideal location in the heart of the metropolis.
A shot distance from the redevelopment site are shopping centres, eateries, recreational establishments, educational institutions and everything else.
Other nearby landmarks include the Singapore Botanic Gardens, Newton Food Centre, Shangri-La Hotel Singapore, and Novena Medical Hub.
Several clubs like the Tanglin Club, The American Club, The Pines, and the Raffles Town Club, are also in the vicinity of the upmarket condominium.
Located on a high ground in Balmoral Park, an exclusive residential estate off Stevens Road, Pinetree Condominium is near to the shopping belt of Orchard Road. Public buses are easily accessible outside the condominium and is within 5 minutes bus ride away from Scotts Road and Orchard Road. The Pan Island Expressway (PIE) is a short drive away too.
It’s just a stone’s throw from all the modern comforts, like shopping centres, commercial centres, restaurants, entertainment establishments, hospitals, schools and a more. Prestigious schools like Raffles Girls’ School, Anglo Chinese School (Barker) and Singapore Chinese Girls’ School are within 1-km radius of Pinetree Condominium. The upmarket condominium is also next to Ardmore Park.
SLP Scotia said that the site in which the upmarket condominium sits, may be redeveloped into a 12-storey project comprising 75 apartments with an average size of 70 sq m. The tender for Pine Tree Condominium closes on 30 August.
Pinetree Condominium’s launch of the en bloc sale comes on the heels of the new property cooling measures. The Government recently imposed an additional Additional Buyer’s Stamp Duty (ABSD) of 5% that is non-remittable under the Remission Rules (payable on the purchase price or market value, as applicable) for developers purchasing residential properties for housing development.
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The Government said that being entities, developers will also be subject to the ABSD rate of 25% for entities. Developers may apply for remission of this 25% ABSD, subject to conditions (including completing and selling all units within the prescribed periods of 3 years or 5 years for non-licensed and licensed developers respectively). Details are provided under the Stamp Duties (Non-licensed Housing Developers) (Remission of ABSD) Rules and the Stamp Duties (Housing Developers) (Remission of ABSD) Rules.
This new 5% ABSD for developers is in addition to the 25% ABSD for all entities. This 5% ABSD will not be remitted, and is to be paid upfront upon purchase of residential property. Real estate market watchers have suggested that the en bloc sales market will be hot by the new property cooling measures.
JLL for example said: “The collective sales market will also be dampened as developers become wary of end-demand and are hurt by the 5 per cent non-remittable ABSD on land purchase.”
And CBRE added: “Property developers will be affected most from these changes on their land acquisition costs. Property developers will now have to pay 25 per cent on a land acquisition based on the land cost instead of the previous 15 per cent. Although this is remissible when the property developer manages to completely sell all the units in the development within five years, there is a new additional 5 per cent ABSD tax on the transaction price imposed where it will not be remissible.”
While DBS Analyst Derek Tan said: “We believe that we have seen the end of the current collective sale cycle. The revised ABSD rates (25 per cent ABSD and an additional 5 per cent non-remittable for collective sales) greatly increases the capital commitment for developers looking to land-bank further in a period of increased uncertainty in buying volumes and heightened supply entering the market in the coming two years. The immediate strategy for developers with upcoming launches will be to re-look their pricing and launch strategy. In the longer term, if sell-through rates do not follow through, the risk of potential write- off to land values will be a concern. However, this is not a base case scenario at this moment.”
Mr Richard Lai, group chief financial officer of property developer GuocoLand, said that upmarket condominiums, “the initial reaction of any investors, most of which will be foreigners, is that they will hold back, wait and see”. Adding: “The higher-end market products will have a different target market and, therefore, will have very different reactions than the more mass-market ones.”
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