Ardmore Park condo sold en bloc fetches record price

By Fiona Chan, Property Reporter

AN ARDMORE Park condominium has just smashed the record for the most expensive collective sale in Singapore - less than a week since the last record was set. The Ardmore, a 24-unit freehold property off Orchard Road, was bought by high-end developer SC Global for $262 million, some $40 million above the initial asking price. This works out to an eyebrow-raising $2,338 per sq ft per plot ratio (psf ppr), including a $16.6 million development charge. It far surpasses the last record of $1,788 psf ppr set by Char Yong Gardens in Cairnhill last Tuesday. The Ardmore has also become the first condo here to cross the $2,000 psf ppr mark in a collective sale. Other nearby estates making similar attempts include Grangeford Apartments at Leonie Hill and Elizabeth Heights and Trendale Tower in the Cairnhill area. With this sale, each owner of The Ardmore - which has mainly three-bedroom units of 1,991 sq ft in size - stands to get about $11 million on average. No units have been transacted in the past two years, and the single unit that changed hands in 2005 went for $904 psf. The coveted condo was said to have attracted five other bids from big-name property developers in a public tender that closed last Tuesday. All the bids were close, a sign that developers remain bullish on the highest end of the property market despite the recent sharp run up in prices. Home prices rose 4.8 per cent in the first quarter, after rising 10.2 per cent last year. In the same periods, prices in prime districts shot up 7.3 per cent and 25.4 per cent, respectively. The Ardmore sits on the last site with redevelopment potential in Ardmore Park, one of Singapore's choicest residential districts. Most of the nearby condos are either fairly new or already sold for redevelopment. SC Global's winning offer for The Ardmore means it will have to sell units in the new project at more than $3,300 psf, and likely closer to $4,000 psf, said property experts. Mr Lui Seng Fatt, regional and head of investments at Jones Lang LaSalle, believes these prices are 'doable'. 'Ardmore is among the best addresses in Singapore,' he said. 'The price that SC Global is paying for this site is certainly no surprise.' Mr Nicholas Mak, director of research and consultancy at Knight Frank, estimated that the breakeven price for the project could go up to $3,200 psf ppr. He said 45 to 50 new units of about 2,000 sq ft each could be built. The 42,565 sq ft plot can host a new 36-storey development with a total floor area of 119,181 sq ft, SC Global said yesterday. Chairman and chief executive officer Simon Cheong said the group intends to build a high-end luxury condo. 'The Ardmore Park address is well-established in the international community as an upmarket residential enclave,' he said in a statement. This purchase brings SC Global's total bill for collective sales since last year to about $1 billion. Last year, it spent $648 million on Paterson Tower, Hilltops Apartments and some terrace houses in Cairnhill. The Ardmore sale is the latest in a string of record-breaking collective sales and comes a day after the Government said it is keeping an eye on fast-rising home prices. Although Minister of National Development Mah Bow Tan said buyers of 'multimillion-dollar' homes in the central regions 'can take care of themselves', he added that it was important to ensure that 'prices do not overshoot'. Last week, the Government released a slew of new residential sites, mainly in suburban areas, in what is being seen as a move to steady the market. fiochan@sph.com.sg