Small District 9 condo sold in 2019's first residential collective sale

A SMALL District 9 apartment building has broken a more than six-month silence in the residential collective sale market.

The five-unit Sophia View was sold in June in Singapore to a private investor.

Marketing agent SRI declined to reveal the exact price tag coughed up but said each unit will get about S$2 million.

Sophia View, at 108 Sophia Road, is zoned residential and has a plot ratio of 2.1.

Bruce Lye, co-founder and managing partner of SRI, said that the buyer is purchasing it in his own name and is "keeping his options open". The buyer will later evaluate whether he wants to redevelop the land or submit for potential change of use. 

He said: "Essentially for this investor, he sees the potential upside of the area and value of the land and is taking a long-term view of the market."

Despite a slew of fresh and relaunched tenders, the residential en bloc market remains largely quiet.

According to Cushman & Wakefield's head of research for South-east Asia Christine Li, the last such transactions in the market were that of Phoenix Heights, sold in August 2018 to an associate of OKP Holdings, and Waterloo Apartments, sold for S$131.1 million in November to Fragrance Group, to be turned into a hotel from its existing zoning of "residential with first-storey commercial".