Qingjian takes smart homes to new heights
By Tan Chee Yuen
/ The Edge Property |
Two years ago, Qingjian Realty realised that beyond just selling residential units to homebuyers, it needed to continue to engage them. That led to the launch in June last year of a new smartphone mobile application called HiLife in collaboration with Samsung. The initial rollout was for residents of Riversound Residences, a 590-unit private condominium in Sengkang that was completed in 2015.
The mobile app, which can be downloaded from both Apple App Store and Google Play for free, will enable homeowners to book condo facilities, access the property’s handbook, find out more about upcoming events within the project and purchase interior designer packages.
The HiLife smartphone app is also a feature for The Visionaire, Qingjian’s 632-unit executive condo in Sembawang, which was launched in April this year. Qingjian dubbed it the “first EC with smart home features”. In addition to booking condo facilities using their mobile devices, homeowners can use the app to look up maintenance services such as air-conditioning, as well as plumbing, home repair and cleaning services. Residents at The Visionaire will also be able to check out nearby amenities such as enrichment centres, yoga classes, nail spas, beauty treatment and massage centres, F&B outlets and entertainment facilities.
The Visionaire executive condo in Sembawang will have smart home features
Source: Qingjian
The smart home features at The Visionaire extend to the internal spaces of the individual units. Residents can monitor visitors via CCTV and control access to their homes using a digital lock. Those who want to buy an enhanced package can also control the lighting and air-conditioning within the rooms and living area, as well as other home appliances such as water heater, washing machine and refrigerator.
As at end-November, 289 units, or 46% of the total at The Visionaire, had been sold, at a median price of $804 psf. Next door is another EC, The Brownstone, a 638-unit project by joint-venture partners City Developments and TID. Launched in July last year, the project is 80% sold, at a median price of $811 psf, according to the latest URA data.
You can multitask with just a smartphone app even in the bathroom
Source: Qingjian
The initial rollout of HiLife was in 2015, when residents of the 590-unit Riversound Residences were the first to use it
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Beyond residential
Including The Visionaire, Qingjian has 12 residential development projects in Singapore, It entered the market in 1999. Of the 12, seven are ECs, and include the 651-unit Bellewaters in Sengkang, the 561-unit Bellewoods in Woodlands and the 383-unit Waterbay in Punggol.
The next EC project to be launched by Qingjian is Inz Residence on Choa Chu Kang Avenue 5, bringing Qingjian’s number of EC projects to eight. Inz Residences is expected to have 490 units sitting on a 176,380 sq ft site. Qingjian won the site in August last year with a bid of $156 million ($295 psf per plot ratio). No doubt, the new EC project will also come with the HiLife app and other smart home features.
However, this year also saw Qingjian venture beyond residential sites in the government land sales programme. In May, Qingjian beat 11 others to win a mixed-use development site in Bukit Batok with a bid of $301.16 million, or $635 psf ppr. The bid was 8.3% higher than the second-highest bid of $277.98 million ($587 psf ppr) from Allgreen Properties. This marks Qingjian’s first mixed-use development in Singapore. The project can yield more than 400 residential units. There is also a commercial component of 64,583 sq ft in gross floor area.
Maiden en bloc purchase
Qingjian’s win of a mixed-use development site came just a week after its first en bloc purchase of Shunfu Ville, the 358-unit privatised HUDC estate located in the Bishan-Thomson neighbourhood, at a record price for a collective sale ($638 million), surpassed only by those done at the height of the last collective sale fever in 2007, namely Leedon Heights (now Leedon Residence) for $835 million and Farrer Court (now d'Leedon) for $1.34 billion in 2007.
Qingjian purchased Shunfu Ville for $638 million
Source: JLL
Based on the land area of 408,927 sq ft, Qingjian’s purchase price translates to $747 psf ppr. The developer can develop a new private condo project with over 1,000 units. However, like most collective sales in recent years, there will be some road blocks along the way. At Shunfu Ville, five minority owners reportedly filed an objection with the Strata Title Board in July. As mediation talks have failed, the case will now go to the High Court.
“The Shunfu Ville plot is in a good location, easily accessible to public transport and with various popular schools nearby,” says Li Jun, managing director of Qingjian Realty (South Pacific) Group in an email response. “We will await the final outcome of the collective purchase, and will definitely want to maximise the plot ratio, within the scope of the URA guidelines, when it is time to embark on the design. Whatever the outcome, Qingjian Realty remains committed to building homes that are relevant to and complement the lifestyles of our homeowners.”
This article appeared in The Edge Property Pullout, Issue 760 (Dec 26, 2016) of The Edge Singapore.
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