The Albracca up for collective sale with S$62-65m asking price

Singapore

THE Albracca, an 11-unit residential development along Meyer Road in Marine Parade, has been put up for collective sale, with an asking price of S$62-65 million.

This marks the first collective sale attempt for the 10-storey residential development and comes on the heels of four collective sales this year, worth slightly over S$1.5 billion, already surpassing last year's three en bloc deals of over $1 billion in value.

"These are classic signs of a brewing en bloc sale cycle, which started last year, expected to grow in activity this year, and possibly mature in 2018," said Karamjit Singh, senior consultant at JLL, the sole marketing agent for The Albracca.

"Activity is picking up pace with the positive turning of the outlook of the residential market. En bloc sales take place in waves before going away for periods of lull that can last three to five years. On the supply side, quite a number of ageing developments that missed out on selling during the last wave in 2010 to 2013 are now keen to restart."

More than 80 per cent of the owners at The Albracca have inked their consent to collectively sell their property. Supply of residential land in the area is limited, as the main source of sites in this area typically arises from a collective sale of the older developments, Mr Singh noted. Raising the appeal of this location is the upcoming Katong Park MRT station along the Thomson-East Coast Line, right at its doorstep. The station will be completed some time in 2023, and will be five stops away from Raffles Place and Shenton Way.

Under the 2014 Master Plan, the 23,400 square foot site is zoned "residential" with an allowable gross plot ratio of 2.1. The Albracca may be redeveloped to accommodate a high-rise apartment block of about 18 to 24 storeys, depending on the technical height controls imposed by some government departments. When redeveloped into a high-rise tower, it is expected to offer unobstructed views of Katong Park and the sea beyond the park.

An application for the development baseline has been submitted to the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) to establish the amount of development charges (DC) payable upon redevelopment, if at all. If DC is not payable, the guide price range works out to S$1,262 to S$1,323 per square foot per plot ratio.

Subject to URA approval, a developer may configure the allowable gross floor area (GFA) of 49,130 sq ft into a maximum of 65 apartments with an average size of 70 sq m.

"We expect this site to be well-received by developers, especially in light of the bullish bidding seen at recent land tenders," said Mr Singh. The low price quantum and project scale will also make it appealing to a wide pool of developers, he added. The tender for The Albracca closes on July 20 at 2.30 pm.