| | | |  | | | Scotts HighPark | | | | | | | SINGAPORE : Another record home pricing here in Singapore - this time by CapitaLand for the Scotts Road area.
This followed news on Monday that an apartment at the RiverGate project along the Singapore River was sold at $1,700 per square foot, a record for the vicinity.
CapitaLand said it has achieved a selling price of more than $2,200 per square foot for its Scotts HighPark project located at the former Melia at Scotts hotel site.
This came barely two months since City Developments recorded the highest selling price ever for a Singapore apartment - $3,030 per square foot for its St Regis Residences.
Scotts HighPark is a 73-unit freehold project developed by CapitaLand.
Targetted at high-end buyers, one block will offer penthouse-sized units with a floor area of up to 6,545 square feet each.
The other block will consist of two and three bedrooms apartments.
CapitaLand was hoping to achieve an average selling price of $1,800 per square foot.
But at least one duplex had changed hands at more than $2,200 per square foot, working out to more than $9 million each.
And its largest penthouse could be sold off soon.
All eyes will now be trained on Capitaland's Orchard Turn project, which will invariably be compared to St Regis.
"The two products are pretty different. First, St Regis sells on the hotel brand. We are selling the project on height - that it has fantastic view all the way to McRitchie Reservoir as well as to the Marina Bay. And it will set benchmark prices for 99-year leasehold in that area. I think the current highest price for 99-year leasehold in that area is actually Draycott 8. We will definitely sell way past that pricing," said Patricia Chia, CEO of CapitaLand Residential Singapore.
Despite the buzz in the high-end market, CapitaLand is keeping its projections modest for the mass market.
"Based on our own projects, which is Varsity Park and Citylights, we have already seen a price increase of between 5 to 10 percent. Looking ahead, I think there should be another 5 to 10 percent (increase) annually," said Chia.
Kwek Leng Beng, executive chairman of City Developments, recently told Channel NewsAsia he expected mass prices to rise by at least 7 percent next year.
Home prices in Singapore rose by 1.8 percent in the second quarter, the fastest increase in two years.
Cumulatively, for the first half of this year, home prices rose by 3.4 percent, just a touch below the 3.8 percent rise for the whole of 2005.
- CNA /ls
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