Privatised HUDC estate Serangoon Ville in Serangoon North Avenue 1 has been sold to an Oxley Holdings-led consortium for $499 million, as collective sale fever grows even hotter.
The price is well above the $400 million to $430 million the owners had been expecting when the property was put on the market last month.
The sale marks the sixth collective deal so far this year - already double the three deals in all of last year and is the third former HUDC project to succeed in the collective sale market this year.
The buyer, joint venture firm Oxley Serangoon, comprises partners including Oxley Holdings, Lian Beng Group, Apricot Capital and entities of KSH Holdings and Heeton Holdings.
The consortium also has to pay $195 million in estimated charges to top up the lease to 99 years and intensify the land use.
The additional charges and purchase price work out to a land rate of $835 per sq ft per plot ratio, noted marketing agent ERA Realty Network.
"We saw very competitive bidding involving more than five bidders. All of them offered prices above what the owners had asked for," Mr Stanley Koo, ERA division director, told The Straits Times.
Serangoon Ville comprises 244 apartments and maisonettes across seven blocks, with sizes ranging from 1,625 sq ft to 1,733 sq ft.
Each owner will receive about $2 million from the sale - much higher than the $1.6 million to $1.7 million they had hoped for earlier.
Sitting on a 296,913 sq ft triangular-shaped plot, it was privatised in 2014 and has 69 years of its lease left. It is near the Australian International School and the popular Rosyth School.
It is first-time lucky for owners. Sales committee chairman Anthony Lee put the success down to good timing as the tender hit the market when it is picking up.
"After the sale, I will likely buy a resale HDB flat and use the re- maining money to help my children buy homes," said Mr Lee, 69, a retiree who has lived in the estate since 1989.
This is the second dip into the collective sale market this year for many of the consortium partners.
In May, KSH, Oxley, Lian Beng and Apricot Capital teamed up to buy former HUDC estate Rio Casa in Hougang for $575 million.
Sales in the collective sale market have come thick and fast with nearly $2.1 billion of such sales from the six deals so far this year.
The other four deals were: One Tree Hill Gardens, mixed development Goh & Goh Building, former HUDC estate Eunosville, and The Albracca in Meyer Road.
