Friday, July 14, 2006
[RealEdge] TOdayOnline : Property rebound?
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| Property rebound? City Development's Kwek Leng Joo predicts surge to 1996 record Friday July 14, 2006 Shobha Tsering Bhalla shobha@newstoday.com.sg SINGAPORE's overall property prices are on track to match those of 1996 a peak year for property and may even surpass this, said City Development (CDL) managing director Kwek Leng Joo yesterday. Pressed for a time-frame, Mr Kwek would not make a prediction but hoped it would be soon. He was speaking at the soft launch of the OceanFront, CDL's first condominium project in Sentosa Cove. But analysts are sceptical that this sharp rise in prices will happen any time soon. "It's a very long shot, if he's talking about the property price index," said Mr Colin Tan, head of research at property consultancy Chesterton International. "But if he's talking about new launches, they are not performing badly. It's still a tall order to achieve this by the end of the year, though." Mr Kwek's optimism is driven by the rejuvenation of the ultra high-end segment of the market. CDL's launch of OceanFront comes in the wake of the group's stunning success with another luxury project, St Regis Residences in Cuscaden Road, where unit prices touched an all-time high of $3,030 psf. The upmarket OceanFront project is also setting a new high for a condo project at Sentosa Cove it will be launched this weekend at an average price of $1,300 per sq ft. CDL is the third developer to launch a condo at the exclusive waterfront housing district so far and its launch price dwarfs those of the two other developers Ho Bee and Centrepoint Properties by over 25 per cent, say experts. Absolute prices for OceanFront units range from $1.5 million for a two-bedroom unit to $3 million for a four-bedroom unit. There are 29 penthouses ranging from 2,745 sq ft to 8,095 sq ft in size. Prices for these start at $3.6 million and go up to more than $8 million. And this is only for the first phase involving the launch of just 100 units of the 264-unit project. According to Chesterton International's Mr Tan, OceanFront's launch price of $1,300 psf could even increase. "Although it is around 25 per cent higher than the others, you can't say the price is high. CDL is pushing for what they think the market can bear. They may possibly pull it off," he said. "Everything is moving their way market sentiment, the strong economy, the growing number of investors and also the units are not limitless. So there's lots of potential to push the price further up." After its soft launch in late 2004, unit prices of Ho Bee's The Berth By The Cove averaged $785 per sq ft. This had risen to about $850 per sq ft by April last year. Centrepoint Properties' The Azure saw unit prices averaging about $930 per sq ft at its launch in September. By early October, this had climbed to $1,100 psf. Justifying OceanFront's pricing, Mr Kwek explained that it was a unique product. "And compared to luxury products in Hong Kong or London, it's not expensive at all," he said. | |
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// posted by Shajahan @ 3:41 PM 