The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) granted provisional permission for several residential projects in the second quarter of the year.
These include two large projects with well over 1,000 units each on sites sold through collective sales.
Sim Lian won URA’s provisional nod in June to develop a 2,225-unit condo on the Tampines Court site.
In the same month, Kingsford Huray Development was granted approval for a 1,882-unit project on the Normanton Park site – comprising 1,863 apartments and 19 strata terrace houses. Normanton Park is near Science Park and Kent Ridge Park.
Developers which have clinched collective sale sites are expected to try and quickly secure provisional permission for their proposed projects on the sites in order to insulate themselves from further hikes in development charge (DC) rates during the upcoming revision on Sept 1.
Further increases in DC rates are expected for non-landed residential use, with the biggest percentage increases likely to be in the prime districts where there has been several en bloc sales in the past six months, including that of Park House.”
The freehold Orchard Boulevard site set a new record price for residential land in Singapore, of S$2,910 per square foot per plot ratio (psf ppr).
For suburban locations, however, the percentage increases in DC rates are likely to be more subdued; in fact some areas may not even see any increase, following the steep hikes during the previous two rounds of revisions.
In Q2 this year, URA also granted provisional permission to some developers for their projects on sites clinched at state tenders. Notably, Frasers Property received approval to develop a residential and serviced apartments project totalling 500 units on the former Zouk site in Jiak Kim Street.
Market watchers note that Frasers Property’s project combines developing apartments for sale with a long-term investment approach by also including a serviced residences component which the group is likely to retain for recurring income.
In May, URA granted provisional permission to City Developments Ltd (CDL) to develop the 718-unit Whistler Grand project on a site in West Coast Vale that the group clinched at a state tender earlier this year.
In Q2 this year, several residential projects received Temporary Occupation Permit (TOP) – including Coco Palms condo in Pasir Ris Grove and Trilive along Tampines Road.
Adapted from: The Business Times, 1 August 2018
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