Sim Lim Square En Bloc Sale 2019

Sim Lim Square one of the most popular gadget hubs in Singapore is taking the en bloc sale route. Reports have emerged stating more than 80% of the owners having given their go ahead to the collective sale.

It has been reported that 81.43% owners by strata area and 80.82% by share value have consented to the sale of the site located at Rochor Canal Road.

This approval was arrived after raising the asking price to $1.3 billion from the earlier $1.1 billion on February 1.

Completed in 1987 this 99-year leasehold property covers an ahead of 7,260 sq m and has 492-unit owners.

SLP Scotia the marketing agents for this sale revealed plans of launching the tender by the next month end.

However, they refrained from talking about the reserve price.

Prime District 7, currently Singapore Hottest En Bloc Zone has already seen 3 sites sold. They are Selegie Centre, Waterloo Apartments and  Golden Wall Centre.

The latest commercial site that enter developer landbank is Selegie Centre, which is just 300 meters away from Sim Lim Square. The freehold site was sold for S$120 million at their 3^rd Collective Sale attempt. Hotel Development is inside the Buyer mind.

During November last year 2018, another freehold site Golden Wall Centre which is located close by (150m away) sold en bloc. The transaction earned S$276.2 million or rate of $2,331 psf ppr. Needless to say, the buyer Worldwide Hotels will build a new hotel on this site with URA already approval for hotel use.

At the same year, James Koh Fragrance Group bag Waterloo Apartments for S$131.1 million, based on the sale price is around S$2,172 psf ppr. The 999-year Leasehold site will be converted into Hotel announced by the group.

With 3 En Bloc Commercial Success around SLS, it’s not hard to see why Sim Lim Square owners want to go for Collective Sale in 2019.

This is the Right time, the Best time and the Golden year for commercial.

Why the Price was raised?

Mr Vikas Gupta, Chairman of the Collective Sale Committee at Sim Lim Square while explaining the rationale behind the higher asking price said that the owners felt the market was more conductive than last year when they had arrived at the $1.1 billion price.

He added that transactions like Golden Wall Centre have further boosted their confidence as they have better deal for the developer being a square shaped plot and located close to MRT station besides having access to two main roads.

Gupta who manages Sim City Specialty Group, owners of 40 units in this 6-storey mall said that the price arrived at is very competitive and it was a big relief to have achieved 80% consent.

According to Mr Gupta it has been quite an uphill challenge for the last two years as many doubted the prospects of a sale and many of those doubters have now started supporting this sale.

He said some of the doubters didn’t believe that the CSC would be able to achieve the required 80% consensus. He concluded by saying that the land rate would be revealed in about six weeks when the tender is launched.

Chris Koh, Director at Chris International a real estate consultancy expressed some apprehensions about the current market and finding an interested buyer.

He asserted that many of the e-bloc projects have raised their asking price in order to achieve 80% consent but with developers having become choosy and with fixed budget on their hands the market is still edgy.

However, he added that he is positive as far as Sim Lim Square is concerned due to its superb location as such attractive commercial sites don’t hit the market regularly.