High Point collective sale tender to close on July 28

SINGAPORE (EDGEPROP) - The public tender for High Point, a 59-unit condominium block at 30 Mount Elizabeth, will close on July 28, according to marketing agent Savills. The property was relaunched for collective sale on March 21 with a guide price of $550 million, following a previous attempt last year that saw Hong Kong-listed Shun Tak Holdings abort its purchase of the property.

No closing date was set at the time of the launch tender in March. Jeremy Lake, Savills’ managing director for investment sales and capital markets, was then quoted as saying that a closing date would be chosen once confirmed interest had been received from at least one developer.

Lake now says that the July 28 closing date has been set following interest registered by developers. “After launching the public tender in March we have been in constant contact with developers and the interest level in super prime residential sites has picked up,” he adds. He adds that foreign developers have also been able to visit Singapore since travel restrictions have been eased.

The 22-storey High Point was completed in 1973 and sits on a 47,606 sq ft residential site. It has an existing total gross floor area (GFA) of about 211,976 sq ft, or a plot ratio of 4.45. Under the URA Master Plan 2019, the site has an allowable gross plot ratio of 2.8 and height control of up to 36 storeys. The URA development baseline is approximately 213,383 sq ft with a plot ratio of 4.48. A pre-application feasibility study is also not required by LTA for the site redevelopment for up to 196 units.

The guide price of $550 million for the site works out to $2,508 psf per plot ratio after factoring in the 7% bonus GFA for balconies. The development charge payable for the 7% bonus GFA is about $18.8 million.

Savills says the site can be redeveloped into a 36-storey ultra-luxurious tower of 98 units, assuming an average size of 2,153 sq ft per unit. Developers may also choose to build even larger units to cater to new demand from ultra-high-net-worth foreign buyers. Citing luxury condo Park Nova as an example, Savills notes that 37 out of the 54 units available at Park Nova have been sold since its launch last June at an average price of $4,815 psf.

Lake believes that supply of new ultra-luxurious condominiums will remain “highly constrained”, given that the latest cooling measures may make it harder to secure the 80% consensus needed to proceed with a collective sale, especially for developments in the core central region (CCR) where foreign ownership is higher. This is because foreign owners will have to pay a higher ABSD (Additional Buyer’s Stamp Duty) when they buy a replacement property “and therefore may be less keen to join in the collective sale,” he adds.