By the end of the business day on April 29, EL Development had sold over 200 of the 275 units in its Blossoms By The Park development on Slim Barracks Rise. That’s a 73% uptake rate, by the way. Units sold at an average price of $2,423 per square foot.
The developer claims that the whole property has been sold out with the exception of the penthouses, each of which has two bedrooms. Units with one bedroom started at $1.3 million ($2,352 psf), while those with two bedrooms started at $1.5 million ($2,211 psf).
Best Selling Unit Types
The two-bedroom and two-bedroom-plus-study flats sold the best, according to ERA Realty Network CEO Marcus Chu.
At $2.3 million ($2,183 psf) and $2.1 million ($2,276 psf), respectively, over 70% of three-bedrooms were sold. One-third of the four-bedroom apartments were sold out with prices starting at $2.9 million ($2,243 psf).
Little Impact from Latest Cooling Measure
Two days after the current set of property cooling regulations went into effect on April 27, sales were so robust that they even surpassed the developer’s estimates.
Lim Yew Soon, managing director of EL Development, says, “I was pretty optimistic about the expressions of interest before the property cooling measures.” Over the previous two weeks, developer had collected 745 checks.
Lim pondered postponing the launch for a week, but ultimately chose to go forward with it. If I had waited a week to debut, it wouldn’t have made a difference, he argues. I don’t see the government rescinding the cooling measures. Therefore, we proceeded with the launch as planned.
Ismail Gafoor, CEO of PropNex, claims that Blossoms By The Park has pretty good positive sales. As the saying goes, “I had expected more than 50% sales,” but “close to 75% is definitely a positive thing.”
According to Gafoor, the property cooling policies were enacted to discourage foreign investors from purchasing local real estate. “They are not intended to discourage Singaporeans and PRs from purchasing a home,” he clarifies.
Lim from EL Development claims that just 4% of customers are neither Singaporean or permanent residents.
Mark Yip, CEO of Huttons Asia, explains that “first-time buyers were not affected by the cooling measures” since they were not intended for them. “The strong sales will encourage onlookers to make a purchase if their budgets allow it.”
Latest Cooling Measures target Foreigners and Local and PR with 2nd or 3rd Property
According to Lee Liat Yeang, senior partner of Dentons Rodyk’s real estate practice group, “Singapore’s real estate market is attractive,” which explains the strong first-day sales at Blossoms By The Park. To discourage foreign purchases, he argues the government needs to apply the highest extra buyer’s stamp duty (ABSD).
However, the ABSD has also been increased for Singaporean and PR investors purchasing a second or subsequent property. “The higher ABSD caused people into selling their home first before buying an additional property,” says Dentons’ Lee. They want to wait a while before buying a new house, so for the time being they will rent. Additionally, “foreigners waiting for their PR approval will also rent in the meantime,” he says. As a result, many financiers are optimistic about the rental market’s future growth.
High Demand for Residential Property at One-North Region
Given the limited number of new private residential launches in the one-north precinct, Gafoor of PropNex says the strong sales response is an indication of the demand for homes in the area. The 165 units at One-North Eden, the last 2021 launch, are all sold out. “There were no launches in the area for 14 years before One-North-Eden,” he continues.
Located near both Biopolis and Fusionopolis, Blossoms By The Park is one of two residential communities in the area. The Hill at One-North, an impending complex with 142 apartments, is the other.
Yip of Huttons explains why one-north properties are good investments. According to him, “the rents at one-north are projected to be 20% more than nearby condos like Heritage View and Dover Parkview are likely to exceed projections given the limited supply.”
Corporate campuses such as Unilever Campus @ one-north, Unilever’s global campus, may be found among the 400 MNCs, 15 public research organizations, and educational institutions like Insead and Essec Business School. At the National University Hospital (NUH), the National University of Singapore (NUS), and Science Parks 1 and 2, there are over 50,000 professional workers, and many more in the surrounding area. ERA’s Chu explains, “Owner-occupiers and prospective tenants alike would like to live within a short commute to work.”
