No bids for Pine Grove’s mega en bloc sale at S$1.95 billion price

THE latest collective sale attempt by owners of Pine Grove condominium closed on Monday (May 6) without any bids, sending its owners into a 10-week private treaty negotiation period with interested parties.  

There are fewer than 10 interested parties involved, exclusive marketing agent ERA told The Business Times (BT).

The massive site was put up for sale for the fifth time since 2008 by the agency in February for S$1.95 billion.

After an offer closed in November 2023 with no deal signed, plans were made to lower the reserve price by 8.7 per cent to S$1.78 billion. This would have translated to a land rate of around S$1,335 per square foot per plot ratio (psf ppr), after taking into account an estimated land-betterment charge of around S$1 billion. 

Marketing agency ERA had said in its letter to owners in January that S$1.78 billion was assessed to be a “fair valuation” by Premas, a unit of Cushman & Wakefield.

The letter also disclosed that several developers had informally indicated interest in the Pine Grove collective sale at that valuation, which prompted an effort to secure the necessary 80 per cent consensus ahead of the upcoming tender deadline in mid- to late March 2024.

As at February, more than 60 per cent of owners had signed on the supplemental agreement to lower the reserve price – still under the required minimum consensus of 80 per cent.  

At the close of the tender on Monday, BT understands that the reserve price remained at S$1.95 billion. This put the effective land rate for the sale at S$1,434 psf ppr, bringing the effective acquisition cost for the buyer close to S$3 billion. 

In comparison, a state land parcel in the area, Pine Grove (Parcel B), was sold in November 2023 for S$692.4 million, or S$1,223 psf ppr, to an MCL Land-linked entity. The year before, an adjacent plot, Pine Grove (Parcel A), was sold to a UOL-Singapore Land joint venture for S$671.5 million, or S$1,318 psf ppr.

UOL and SingLand have since launched the 520-unit Pinetree Hill project on the Parcel A site. Some 150 units were sold in its launch weekend at an average price of S$2,460 psf. Caveats data showed that the project has sold 217 units to date, at a median price of S$2,397 psf.

Located off Ulu Pandan Road, the 660-unit Pine Grove sits on a massive 893,218 square-foot site, with a plot ratio of 2.1. ERA said the site could yield up to 2,050 new units, subject to approval from the authorities. 

The former Housing and Development Company estate, completed in 1984, has 59 years left on a 99-year lease. 

Before the latest reserve price of S$1.95 billion in the November 2023 en bloc attempt and the attempt earlier this year to lower the price to S$1.78 billion, the owners had previously set their reserve price at S$1.86 billion in 2019 and S$1.7 billion in 2011. Another attempt in 2008 failed to get the consensus required.