All quiet on the collective sale front as deals stall over price gap 

A “GULF” in expectations has opened up in the en bloc sale market, with a price gap of up to 15 per cent showing between what developers will pay and what owners are asking.

Only a third of collective sales have succeeded in the current 2021/2023 sales cycle, down from the 63 per cent success rate in the 2017/2018 boom cycle, noted a Knight Frank report on investment sales in the first quarter, which was released on Wednesday (Apr 5). 

There is now a price gap of up to 15 per cent from what developers are prepared to pay, because current en bloc prices were probably valued last year before interest rates and construction-related costs continued to rise, said Tan Hong Boon, JLL’s executive director of capital markets in Singapore.