CDL sells 18 New Futura units at $3,200 psf at launch
Prices range from $3.8m for a 2-bedroom unit to $6.9m for a 4-bedroom one
City Developments (CDL) moved 18 units of its high-end condominium project New Futura at an average selling price of $3,200 per sq ft (psf) on the first day of its launch last Thursday.
Market watchers deemed this a decent showing, given that most of the units sold were the four-bedroom and three-bedroom units.
CDL said only 25 units were released during the private viewing last Thursday.
A third of the buyers were Singaporeans, while two-thirds were Singapore permanent residents and foreigners.
The freehold project, which has 124 units on a site area of 87,000 sq ft in Leonie Hill Road, is a 10-minute walk from Orchard Road and designed by internationally renowned architectural firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill.
The units released for sale are in the South Tower, with prices starting from $3.8 million for a two-bedroom unit of 1,098 sq ft; $5.5 million for a three-bedroom unit of 1,830 sq ft; and $6.9 million for a four-bedroom unit of 2,250 sq ft, said agents.
The site was acquired by CDL in 2006 for $287.3 million in a collective sale, working out to be $1,179 per sq ft per plot ratio.
The project received time extensions for building completion and received its temporary occupation permit last August.
JPMorgan property analyst Brandon Lee reckoned upcoming projects in the area, such as 8 Saint Thomas, Paterson Collection and One Tree Hill, may be launched earlier than their initially targeted dates to capture the positive buying momentum.
Ongoing projects being sold en bloc may also draw more interest from developers.
In the prime core central region (CCR), there could be up to nine sites offering close to 1,400 units in the first half of the year, said luxury residential brokerage List Sotheby's International Realty, Singapore.
PERFORM WELL
Most consultants are expecting high-end projects to perform well this year.
Mr Lee Nai Jia, who heads research at Edmund Tie & Company, said he expects that the number of foreign purchases will continue to grow.
"Firstly, the Singapore residential market is starting to recover compared with other international residential markets, which are peaking or have peaked. Secondly, the prices of Singapore luxury residential properties compared with other gateway cities such as Hong Kong are lower," he added.
According to List Sotheby's, the number of luxury apartments (above $5 million) bought by foreigners and permanent residents in Singapore's CCR last year more than doubled to 202 units.- THE STRAITS TIMES
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