Serangoon Gardens site for sale

By Fiona Chan

A FREEHOLD site in Serangoon Gardens with a single-storey detached house on it will go on auction later this month.

The 8,666 sq ft plot at 13, Brighton Crescent is zoned for two-storey mixed landed use and carries an indicative price tag of $7.7 million, said property firm Colliers International, which is conducting the auction.

This price works out to about $890 per sq ft (psf), said Colliers deputy managing director Grace Ng in a statement yesterday.

Ms Ng added that this is a "reasonably attractive price in the current market, given the site's redevelopment potential".

The rectangular plot can hold either two bungalows of 4,333 sq ft each, or three terraced houses with an area of 2,000 sq ft to 3,000 sq ft each, Colliers said.

Either configuration would appeal to home buyers seeking a larger space for a multi-generational household.

Developers may also be keen in acquiring the site due to "the rare availability of such sites being put up for sale in Singapore", Colliers added.

Ms Ng said that a new detached house in Serangoon with about 4,300 sq ft of land area could fetch $6 million, or $1,400 psf.

"Prices of landed properties continue to hold firm despite the recent government curbs in the residential market because there is still an underlying interest in landed properties," she noted.

The median price for detached houses outside the central region - such as in Serangoon - remained above $1,100 psf as at the second quarter.

The Brighton Crescent site is surrounded by landed properties, comprising a mix of single- and double-storey houses.

It is near the popular Chomp Chomp Food Centre and a short drive from the Central and Seletar expressways. The nearest MRT stations are Lorong Chuan and Serangoon.

The auction will be held at Amara Hotel at 2.30pm on Sept 24.

fiochan@sph.com.sg

PUBLISHED SEPTEMBER 11, 2014

Serangoon Garden bungalow up for auction

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The 14 Brighton Crescent bungalow site can be subdivided for redevelopment into either two bungalows or three terrace houses.

[SINGAPORE] A freehold bungalow at 14 Brighton Crescent in the Serangoon Garden area will go under the hammer at a Colliers International auction later this month.

The property is understood to have been put up for sale by the estate of the late Raffles Girls' School principal Noel Evelyn Norris, who died earlier this year.

The indicative price for the rectangular site is S$7.7 million or around S$890 per square foot (psf) on the land area of 8,666 square feet.

"This is a reasonably attractive price in the current market, given the site's redevelopment potential," said Colliers deputy managing director Grace Ng.

On site is a single-storey detached house. Under Master Plan 2014, the site is zoned for "two-storey mixed landed" use.

The site can be subdivided to accommodate either two bungalows of about 4,333 sq ft each or three terrace houses of some 2,000-3,000 sq ft each.

"Both configurations would appeal to owner occupiers seeking a huge space for multi-generation households and/or immediate relatives to live next to one another and yet enjoy privacy," said Ms Ng.

Moreover, the freehold tenure of the property would boost its appeal to developers, she added.

The auction will be held on Sept 24 at The Amara Hotel in Tanjong Pagar.

Another property that will go under the hammer at the same auction will be a two-bedder of 1,109 sq ft on the 12th floor of One Shenton. It is being offered for sale by its owner, with an indicative price of S$2.03 million or S$1,830 psf. One Shenton is on a site with about 90 years' balance lease. The project received Temporary Occupation Permit (TOP) about two years ago.

Colliers found buyers for four properties - three residential properties and an industrial unit - at its auction last month. The 1,614-sq-ft factory unit, on the fourth level of The Spire in Bukit Batok Crescent, fetched S$650,000, or S$403 psf. The unit was put up for sale at the auction by its owner, as was a two-bedroom apartment with private enclosed space at the first level of UE Square in the River Valley area. It sold at nearly S$1.57 million, or S$1,400 psf. The property has 929-year leasehold tenure from Jan 1, 1953.

The other two properties that transacted at that auction were put up for sale by mortgagees (or lenders).

A two-level apartment at Orchard Scotts on Anthony Road was sold for S$3.3 million. This translates to S$1,565 psf based on its strata area of 2,109 sq ft. Located on the ninth floor, the unit has three bedrooms plus a study room. The project is on a site with a balance lease term of 86 years.

The other mortgagee sale property that found a new owner at Knight Frank's Aug 27 auction was a freehold, three-storey corner terrace house at Eng Kong Drive in the Toh Tuck area. It changed hands at S$3 million. The property is on 2,827 sq ft of land area and has five bedrooms and a maid's room.

Mortgagee sales have gained momentum since the second quarter of this year.

Agents expect the number of properties put up for auction by mortgagees or lenders to rise because of difficulty that financially stretched borrowers face in securing buyers for their properties since the implementation of the total debt servicing ratio (TDSR) framework in June last year. As a result, financial institutions have had to repossess more properties and put them up for auction.