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The
Business Times, 6 Jul 04
3 waterfront projects to be launched in H2
By Kalpana Rashiwala
Homebuyers can choose from the Caribbean, Ho Bee's Sentosa Cove projects
and CityDev/AIG's city condo
THOSE who see waterfront housing as all the rage will have at least
three major offerings to choose from in the second half of this year.
The first to roll out its 99-year leasehold project is the Keppel
Group, which is offering 135 units at its Caribbean at Keppel Bay
condo in Telok Blangah. It began a preview of the latest batch of
units for sale over the weekend for staff and invited guests, sources
said.
Across the waters, at Sentosa Cove, Ho Bee Investment is planning
to launch a 200-unit condo and eight terrace houses next door - but
only towards the end of the year.
Those who fancy high-rise waterfront condos in the Central Business
District can look forward to a 1,103-unit development at Marina Boulevard
by City Developments and AIG. The project is likely to be released
for sale in early October, BT understands.
Keppel has priced the 135 Caribbean units at about $720 per square
foot on average, sources told BT. This is about 15 per cent lower
than the average of about $850 psf paid by buyers when Keppel last
sold units in the project in the third quarter of 2000. A Keppel spokeswoman
yesterday declined to provide the average price for the latest batch,
but said prices range from about $680 psf to $790 psf.
Some agents say the current pricing is slightly higher than market
expectations and one factor that could have held Keppel back from
pricing the latest batch more competitively was the higher prices
paid by earlier buyers.
However, to entice buyers for the latest batch of units, which are
situated along the water channel and lagoon, Keppel is offering a
deferred payment scheme. Buyers need to pay only a 20 per cent downpayment,
with the remaining 80 per cent deferred for two years. The 969-unit
condo is expected to receive Temporary Occupation Permit (TOP) before
end-August. Sources say that all buyers in the project, including
those who bought their homes in 2000, will receive practically free
membership at Keppel Marina. When Keppel last marketed units in the
condo in 2000, it sold 305 out of 430 units released for sale.
Buyers taken with the idea of living on Sentosa can wait for Ho Bee
Investment's 200-unit condo across the water. Its two grand penthouses
will be duplex units of 6,000 sq ft each including a roof terrace
of about 1,000 sq ft. The two luxury units will each have a 12-metre
by three-metre private pool, generous living and dining areas for
entertaining guests, and five or six bedrooms. Besides the two grand
penthouses, there will be 27 smaller penthouses of about 2,800 sq
ft each. These will come with their own jacuzzi pools.
Ho Bee's six-storey condo will have 15 blocks. Most of the units will
be large - at least three-bedroom units of 1,500 sq ft and above.
Only 43 of the total 200 units will have two bedrooms. The condo,
which is expected to be launched in Q4, will have 25 berths, two of
which are likely to be sold with the two grand penthouses, says Ho
Bee Investment's general manager Chong Hock Chang. 'We've not decided
how to allocate the other 23 berths. Some of the other penthouse owners
may want to buy berths. But we'll also have to keep some of the berths
for common use of the other apartment owners in the condo. We're still
working out the details,' he added.
The eight terrace houses which Ho Bee will develop next door will
each come with a private berth for a boat about 12-metre long. The
houses will have built-up areas of about 3,200 to 3,500 sq ft each.
Ho Bee Group's chairman and chief executive Chua Thian Poh previously
said the group hopes to sell the terrace houses for at least $1.7
million each and the condo units for at least $750 psf on average.
Their respective breakeven costs are about $1.3 million and $640 psf,
he had indicated earlier.
Mr Chong told BT yesterday that the group has received interest from
at least 20 parties for the terrace houses, including foreigners from
the US, UK, Canada and New Zealand. The Singaporeans who have expressed
interest are high networth individuals, some of whom already own boats
and who may be thinking of berthing at Sentosa if they clinch a house
there.
The terrace houses are likely to go on sale only after the condo has
been launched, said Mr Chong. In Singapore's New Downtown at Marina
Bay, where CityDev and AIG are developing the tallest condo here comprising
two towers of 70 and 61 storeys, prices are expected to vary widely
depending on the height of the units and their facing. However, sources
say the developers are eyeing an average price in excess of $800 psf.
Nearly 90 per cent of apartments will be of one and two bedrooms.
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