CDL, MCL Land Project Sells Out in One Month as Singapore Market Stays Hot

Singapore’s red-hot housing market is extending its reach even to far-flung Tengah Town, as an executive condominium by City Developments Ltd has sold out just one month after the project’s launch in the western planning area.

All of the remaining 146 units at the 639-unit Copen Grand, Tengah’s first-ever EC, were snapped up during a sales event over the weekend, according to CDL, which is developing the project with joint venture partner MCL Land, a unit of Hongkong Land.

The average launch price was S$1,300 ($947) per square foot, with an additional 3 percent applied to units sold under the deferred payment scheme, which lets EC buyers make a 20 percent down payment and defer the remaining 65 percent until the home is ready for move-in.

According to the project’s website, analysts had expected units to sell for S$1,190-S$1,250 per square foot. “Transacted prices for the units range from S$1.09 million for a two-bedroom plus study to S$2.17 million for a five-bedroom premium unit,” a CDL spokesperson said Sunday.

Second-Time Buyers Pounce

Under regulations governing ECs, a type of public-private housing hybrid, only 30 percent of a project can be allocated to second-time buyers at launch. For Copen Grand, this quota was reached during the initial launch period in October, CDL said.

E-applications for second-time buyers took place from 17 to 23 November, and sales bookings commenced on Saturday.

The first of five ECs planned within the Garden District of Tengah Town, Copen Grand will feature 12 14-storey towers spanning 61,659 square metres (663,692 square feet) of gross floor area. The property is within walking distance of three MRT stations of the future Jurong Region Line, with the nearest being Tengah Plantation station.

Apart from Copen Grand, CDL’s pipeline includes another nearby EC, the 510-unit Bukit Batok West Avenue 5. In September, the developer controlled by the Kwek family placed the highest bid of S$336 million (S$626 per square foot of gross floor area) for the 99-year leasehold site.

Taking Up the Slack

A shortage of major condo launches dampened Singapore’s new private home sales in October, with transactions plunging 68.4 percent from the previous month to 312 units sold.

It was a different story for ECs, which are considered separately and saw 498 new units sold last month, with Copen Grand making up 96 percent of sales.

Another EC project, Sing Holdings’ North Gaia in Yishun, moved 18 new units in October at a median price of $1,307 per square foot, PropNex Realty reported. EC sales overall were up sharply from the five units transacted in September.