Freehold River Valley Apartments sells for S$56 million to a Singapore family office
URA has granted an outline planning permission for serviced apartments on the site
RIVER Valley Apartments, a freehold four-storey walk-up block on River Valley Road, has been sold en bloc for S$56 million to a Singapore family office.
The price tag translates to a land rate of around S$1,622 per square foot per plot ratio (psf ppr), including a nominal land betterment charge, marketing agent Knight Frank said on Friday (Feb 21).
The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) has granted an outline planning permission for a serviced apartment project, said Knight Frank, which declined to give further details on the purchaser.
Owners of River Valley Apartments stand to receive S$2 million to S$2.6 million, depending on their unit sizes, which range from 88 square metres (sq m) to 115 sq m, said the real estate consultancy.
Located in prime District 10, the condominium comprises 24 units on a 1,152.7 sq m land site on the corner of River Valley Road and Jalan Mutiara.
Close to Great World City, the plot is zoned as residential under URA’s Master Plan 2019, with a gross plot ratio of 2.8.
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In the last year, four land parcels nearby in the River Valley area have been tendered out under the government land sales (GLS) programme.
The latest, River Valley Green (Parcel B), closed on Feb 7 with the highest bid of S$627.8 million or S$1,420 psf ppr from GuocoLand. Prior to that, in July 2024, Zion Road (Parcel B) closed with a top bid of S$730.1 million or S$1,304 psf ppr from Allgreen Properties.
Another Zion Road site was awarded in April last year to its sole bidder – a joint venture between City Developments Limited and Mitsui Fudosan – for slightly over S$1.1 billion or S$1,202 psf ppr.
In their vicinity is River Valley Green (Parcel A), which drew a top bid of S$464 million or around S$1,325 psf ppr from a Wing Tai Holdings unit last June.
Chia Mein Mein, Knight Frank Singapore head of capital markets for land and collective sales, said that the tender for River Valley Apartments, which closed on Feb 18, attracted “very keen interest”.
The deal makes for the first collective sale of 2025 in Singapore, and the first residential deal in the prime Core Central Region (CCR) since 2023.
The market remains largely quiet, with just four successful deals out of 16 properties put on the market in 2024.
The most recent residential collective sale – and the only one recorded last year– was for Thomson View condominium. It was sold for S$810 million or S$1,178 psf ppr to a group consisting of UOL, Singapore Land and CapitaLand Development in November.
In the prime CCR, the last residential en bloc deal was for the freehold Kew Lodge in May 2023. It was bought by a Woh Hup subsidiary for S$66.8 million or S$1,940 psf ppr.
Analysts attribute the prolonged drought in the market, especially for residential deals, to a mismatch in expectations between buyers and sellers.
At the same time, the government has been ramping up the supply of land under the GLS programme.
The latest such scheme for the first half of 2025 will see the release of enough land for 5,030 private homes, including executive condominiums, similar to the 5,050-unit supply for the H2 2024 confirmed list.
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