Auction market bounces back

/ The Edge Property |

June 30, 2017 7:00 AM SGT

Join our Telegram channel and follow our Facebook for the latest update.

Since March this year, transactions at auctions have picked up. A double-storey, semi-detached house on Surin Lane at Charlton Park, off Upper Serangoon Road was put up for auction by Knight Frank on June 20. The property, a mortgagee sale, opened at $3.05 million ($936 psf) and saw active bidding from two parties. It was finally sold for $3.19 million ($980 psf).

The semi-detached house on Surin Lane has a built-up area of 2,648 sq ft and sits on a freehold land area of 3,257 sq ft. What is unusual about the property is that it is attached at the rear to the adjoining semidetached house which fronts Aroozoo Avenue. The new owner is likely to tear down the existing house and build a new one for his family’s own use, reckons Sharon Lee, head of auction at Knight Frank Singapore. It was the property’s debut on the auction market as a mortgagee sale.

Lee sold another double-storey semi-detached house at Knight Frank’s auction on May 23. The property is located on Lorong Selangat in Braddell Heights Estate. The owner had first put it up for auction a year ago. This time around, the property found a buyer at $3.35 million ($900 psf), according to a caveat lodged with URA Realis.

The semi-detached house on Surin Lane was sold for $3.19 million at Knight Frank’s June 20 auction

Luxury freehold apartments

Knight Frank’s May auction also saw the mortgagee sale of a 1,507 sq ft, three-bedroom unit at St Regis Residences Singapore. The 17th floor apartment is one of 173 units housed within twin 23-storey towers adjacent to luxury hotel St Regis Singapore on Tanglin Road, and completed in 2008. The unit went under the hammer for $3.37 million ($2,236 psf), a 34% markdown from the purchase price of $5.1 million ($3,384 psf) a decade ago, at the peak of the last property boom.

There have been a number of mortgagee sales in other parts of the prime districts. A 5,675 sq ft penthouse at The Edge on Cairnhill was put up for sale at JLL’s auction on June 22. The penthouse comes with a private lift lobby, four en suite bedrooms and a private roof terrace. The opening price was $7.7 million ($1,357 psf), and as it drew no bids, the property was withdrawn. The freehold condominium on Cairnhill Road contains just 46 units and was completed in 2002.

The asking price of $7.7 million is $1.8 million (about 19%) below the unit’s last transacted price of $9.5 million ($1,675 psf) in June 2007.

Another four-bedroom penthouse at The Paterson was also put up for executor’s sale at the JLL auction. The opening price for the 3,068 sq ft unit was $5.6 million ($1,825 psf), but it was withdrawn without a bid. The unit was purchased in December 2010 for $5.75 million ($1,875 psf). The Paterson, a freehold condo with 88 units, was completed in 2004.

A 5,675 sq ft penthouse at The Edge on Cairnhill was put up for sale at JLL’s auction at an opening price of $7.7 million ($1,357 psf)

Shoebox units

It is not just luxury apartments that have surfaced as mortgagee sales at auctions. Even shoebox apartments in the prime districts and the red-light district of Geylang are not spared. For instance, a 441 sq ft, onebedder at Loft @ Stevens, a mortgagee sale, fetched $810,000 ($1,837 psf) at Colliers International’s auction on June 21. The previous owner paid $799,999 ($1,813 psf) for the unit just three months earlier, according to a caveat lodged on March 6. The freehold 41-unit Loft @ Stevens in prime District 10 was completed in 2013.

Meanwhile, on Lorong 24 Geylang is an 80-unit, eight-storey apartment block completed last year called #1 Loft. A 560 sq ft, one-bedroom loft unit on the sixth floor of #1 Loft made its debut as a mortgagee sale and was sold at the JLL auction on June 22. The previous owner paid $740,880 ($1,324 psf) for the unit in May 2013, a month before the introduction of the total debt servicing ratio (TDSR) loan framework.

In the heady pre-TDSR days, especially in April and May 2013, a 549 sq ft, one-bedder on the eighth (topmost) floor of #1 Loft was sold at $760,365 ($1,385 psf). Another unit measuring 560 sq ft fetched $775,600 ($1,386 psf). The most recent transaction at #1 Loft was in June last year, when a 1,001 sq ft, three-bedroom, four-bathroom unit was sold for $1.1 million ($1,099 psf).

A 441 sq ft, one-bedroom unit at Loft @ Stevens, a mortgagee sale, fetched $810,000 ($1,837 psf) at Colliers International’s auction on June 21

Developer sales at auctions

Even developers are finding auctions an ideal platform for their unsold units. At the JLL auction, niche developer East Coast Properties found a buyer for its six-bedroom+study, 4,822 sq ft strata bungalows at Montclair @ Whitley. The strata landed housing project located off Thomson Road was completed in 2011 and contains 10 units, which are a mix of detached and semi-detached houses.

The last transaction at Montclair @ Whitley was for a 4,026 sq ft, strata semi-detached house that fetched $2.68 million ($653 psf) in December 2016. The most recent sale of a strata bungalow at Montclair @ Whitley was in early 2013, when a 4,489 sq ft unit was sold for $4.08 million ($909 psf).

Even Fragrance Group used JLL’s auction to sell the two remaining bungalows in its eight-bungalow development called Bungalows by the Sea. Located on Wak Hassan Drive at the edge of Sembawang, the luxury 99-year leasehold three-storey bungalows have at least six bedrooms, a swimming pool, a garden and direct sea views as they overlook the Straits of Johor.

At JLL’s auction, one of the intermediate bungalows on Wak Hassan Drive, with a built-up area of 9,305 sq ft and land area of 5,285 sq ft, had an opening price of $5.1 million. It received a bid of $5.2 million before it was withdrawn. The other bungalow on Wak Hassan put up for auction last week was a corner unit sitting on a land area of 5,414 sq ft with a built-up of 7,410 sq ft. It had an opening price of $5 million and received a bid of $5 million from the same bidder of the other bungalow before it, too, was withdrawn.

When Fragrance Group launched the bungalows in mid-2013 to late 2014, their prices ranged from $5.6 million ($1,186 psf) to $7.18 million ($1,324 psf), according to caveats lodged with URA Realis.

Developer Fragrance Group put up the two remaining units of its Bungalows by the Sea for sale at JLL’s auction. It received a bid for $5.2 million for the intermediate bungalow and $5 million for the corner bungalow before both units were withdrawn.

Wak Hassan sees interest

Interest has also returned to the Wak Hassan area as Bukit Sembawang Estates previewed its 80-unit freehold cluster housing project, Watercove, in May. Incidentally, the project is adjacent to Fragrance Group’s Bungalows by the Sea. At Watercove, strata corner terraced houses are priced from $2.38 million, and intermediate terraces are from $2.268 million ($650 psf). Meanwhile, sea-facing intermediate terraces are priced from $2.59 million ($750 psf) and corner seafront terraces are from $2.74 million.

Since its May preview, Watercove has sold at least 17 strata terraced houses, based on caveats lodged with URA Realis. Prices of units sold ranged from $2.25 million ($649 psf) to $3.37 million ($745 psf).

This article appeared in The Edge Property Pullout, Issue 786 (July 3, 2017) of The Edge Singapore.

Tags:

Follow our channels to receive property news updates 24/7 round the clock.

Subscribe to our newsletter