Outram Park Tower Joins Singapore’s S$6B Collective Sale Surge at S$728M Price

Singapore’s collective sale surge has grown by one more building – the horseshoe shaped Pearlbank Apartments in the Outram Park area. Colliers International announced Thursday that the iconic 37-storey building is up for collective sale, following a fourth and finally successful attempt to get 80 percent of the tower’s condo owners to pool their homes into the scheme.

A reserve price of S$728 million ($535 million) has been set for the proposed sale, which translates roughly to S$1,505 per square foot per plot ratio for a proposed redevelopment project, including a S$195 million premium to be paid to the government to top-up the site’s 99-year leasehold.

Tang Wei Leng, Managing Director of Colliers International Singapore noted the building’s location as a major draw, citing its “views of the city skyline and sea” and its “proximity to Outram Park MRT Interchange and the CTE.” The 82,376 square foot building stands alongside Pearl’s Hill City Park about 600 metres north of Outram Park MRT station and only about 500 metres from the Central Expressway (CTE) which bisects Singapore.

Turning a 288-Unit Tower into a 730-Unit Complex

The current complex is divided into 288 units, including both commercial and residential space. However, a masterplan drafted in 2014 would help the project to yield 730 new homes of 800 square feet each.

The current owners of Pearlbank homes would receive from S$1.8 million to S$4.9 million for their 1,323 square foot to 3,993 square foot condos. Commercial owners stand to receive S$1.2 million to S$6.9 million, for their 700 square foot to 5,630 square foot units. The development has a 99-year leasehold dating back to June 1970.

“We started the signing process on July 8 and have achieved the necessary signatures in under four months which is significantly faster than our previous rounds,” said Alex Poh, Chairman of the Collective Sale Committee for the Pearlbank Apartments in a statement. “The owners understand that it is time to sell given the age of the property and hence have shown great commitment to ensuring a smooth and quick process.”

The tender is expected to launch in two weeks’ time, and the process is expected to close before the end of 2017.

Singaporeans Soon to Be World’s Wealthiest Homeless People

So far this year, home prices in Singapore have climbed more 2.5 percent, according to data from the National University of Singapore’s Institute of Real Estate Studies. The housing market recovery comes after a prolonged slide in home prices, and the uptick has triggered a wave of collective sales.

Just last week, China’s Logan Property bought the Florence Regency complex in Singapore for S$629 million. A week before that, CEL Real Estate Development , a subsidiary of property group Chip Eng Seng Corporation won the tender to buy Changi Garden, an 84-unit retail and residential project for S$248.8 million ($183.5 million).

In total, Singapore has seen 15 major collective deals this year alone, amounting to a combined S$5.88 billion ($4.12 billion). At least 50 more en bloc sales are in the works, a Colliers International study found this month, a number that’s expected to grow for the next year.