Kensington Park En Bloc Sale Relaunched in 2023 – 999-Yr Leasehold (OCR)
The First Billion Dollar Collective Sale Site Launch in 2023
Kensington Park condo, a 999-year leasehold property located in Serangoon Gardens, has been listed for collective sale for the third time with the same reserve price of S$1.28 billion.
This comes after the latest en bloc exercise ended without a sale on November 18, 2022, according to sole marketing agency CBRE on Thursday, February 9.
The redevelopment site is designated for residential use and is located at 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12 Kensington Park Drive.
It was first listed for sale on May 18 of last year and was later reintroduced for sale on October 4. The land’s 999-year tenancy started in 1878.
The reserve price is equivalent to a land rate of about S$1,444 per square foot per plot ratio (psf ppr).
Taking into account the 7% bonus gross floor area (GFA) permitted for balconies, as well as a land improvement fee of around S$273 million, the land cost is approximately S$1,407 psf ppr.
Under the Urban Redevelopment Authority’s 2019 Master Plan, the 314-unit condominium has a land area of about 500,000 square feet, a gross plot ratio of 2.1, and a building height restriction of up to 24 storeys.
According to CBRE, the land has the potential to be rebuilt into 1,126 residential units with an average unit size of 85 square metres.
Kensington Park, which was built in 1990, is close to Chomp Chomp Food Centre and Serangoon Garden Market and Food Centre, as well as commercial malls such as Nex, parks, and educational institutions.
The enbloc site is also accessible through the Central Expressway and the new MRT stations Tavistock and Serangoon North, both of which are scheduled to open in 2030.
In a recent statement, Michael Tay, who is the head of Singapore capital markets for CBRE, said that more developers are interested in and looking for premium residential land in Singapore.
This is due to a shrinking supply of new residential units, increased take-up rates at new condominium launches, and anticipated significant Chinese purchasing demand after China’s reopening, he added.
Tay noted that the trend toward remote working is raising demand for bigger units and that developers may meet this need by lowering the number of units and developing larger ones instead.
Given Kensington Park’s position in Serangoon Gardens, developers may also include strata-landed residences in the unit mix, he says.
The public tender for the Kensington Park site will end on February 22, 2023, at 3 p.m.