Chancery Court at Dunearn Road sells en bloc for S$401.78m, 6% higher than reserve price

CHANCERY Court, a privatised HUDC estate across the road from Anglo-Chinese School (Barker Road), has fetched S$401.78 million in a collective sale tender or 6 per cent higher than its reserve price, its sole marketing agent OrangeTee Advisory said on Thursday.

The identity of the buyer was not disclosed.

The winning bid for the Dunearn Road site translates to a land price of about S$1,610 per square foot per plot ratio (psf ppr), after factoring in a differential premium and lease upgrading premium of some S$182.4 million. This is to redevelop the site to a gross plot ratio (GPR) of 1.4, based on the maximum permissible gross floor area (GFA) of 362,788 sq ft, and to top up the lease to a fresh 99 years.

The estate comprises a 16-storey tower block and seven blocks of four-storey walk-up maisonettes on a site area of approximately 259,134 sq ft.

The owners of the 136 apartments and 8 commercial units stand to receive a gross sale proceeds of S$1.8 million to S$3.5 million and S$934,000 to S$4.7 million respectively.

The 99-year leasehold site in prime District 11 is also a five-minute walk to Newton MRT station, near landed estates and Good Class Bungalows, within 1km of St Joseph's Institution Junior and less than 2kmof Singapore Chinese Girls' Primary School.

Subject to authorities' approval, the site can be redeveloped into a 5-storey residential development with a maximum of 481 units, based on average size of 70 square metres, said OrangeTee Advisory.

"A pre-application feasibility study on traffic impact was commissioned by us and it has provided certainty to developers during the bidding process," said the firm.

It added that the recent collective sale sites sold along Bukit Timah Road, Dunearn Road and Balmoral Road have exhibited developers' confidence in the prime locality.

With the sale of Chancery Court, only five of 12 former HUDC estates remain for now - Ivory Heights, Pine Grove, Laguna Park, Braddell View and Lakeview. All five are in various stages of the collective sale process.