Blossoms By The Park achieves 73% sales despite government cooling measures
Over 200 units out of 275 at EL Development project Blossoms By The Park at Slim Barracks Rise was sold by the company by 6pm on April 29. The median psf price of units sold translate to be $2,423 psf and seventy-three percent of the entire development sold.
All the compact units like the one- and two-bedroom units in Blossoms By The Park have been snapped up, except for the two-bedroom penthouse units. One-bedroom units from 549 sq ft were priced upwards of $1.3 million ($2,352 psf), while two-bedroom units of 678 sq ft were priced upwards of $1.5 million ($2,211 psf).
“The two-bedroom and two-bedroom-plus-study units were the favourite among buyers,” says Marcus Chu, CEO of ERA Realty Network.
Seventy over percent of the three-bedroom and three-bedroom dual-key units were sold from $2.3 million ($2,183 psf) and $2.1 million ($2,276 psf) respectively. Thirty over percent of the four-bedroom units were taken up which were priced from two point nine million dollars ($2,243 psf).
The healthy and excellent sales had even exceeded the developer’s expectations, particularly when it was achieved two days after the latest round of property cooling measures came into effect on April 27.
“Before the property cooling measures, I was pretty optimistic about the expressions of interest,” says Lim Yew Soon, managing director of EL Development. A total of 745 cheques were garnered by keen buyers over the last two weeks of preview. This would signify that the project had been oversubscribed 2.75 times ahead of its launch.
Managing Director or EL Development initially thought of delaying the project for another weekend but ultimately finally go ahead to proceed with the launch today [April 29]. “It wouldn’t have made any difference if I had delayed the launch by another week,” he says. “It’s not like the government would repeal the cooling measures. So we just went ahead with the launch as scheduled.”
Since the initial launch of Tembusu Grand earlier this year, Blossoms By The Park has achieved the highest first-day sales in 2023, says Ismail Gafoor, CEO of PropNex, on a percentage basis in 2023. “I had expected more than 50% sales, but close to 75% is definitely a positive thing.”
The government instrumented property cooling measures were designed to deter inflated investment purchases by foreigners, notes Gafoor. “They are not meant to dampen or forbid Singaporeans and Permanent Residents (PRs) from buying a home,” he adds.
According to EL Development’s Lim, 96% of the buyers are Singaporeans and PRs, with foreigners making up the balance 4%.
“The cooling measures were targeted at a small group of buyers and first-time buyers were not affected,” says Mark Yip, CEO of Huttons Asia. “The excellent sales will give confidence to buyers who may be sitting on the fence to commit if their finances permit.”
Lee Liat Yeang, senior member of Dentons Rodyk real estate practice group, attributes the excellent sales at Blossoms By The Park on the very first day to the belief that “Singapore’s real estate market remains attractive”. “It’s so attractive that the government has to revise the highest additional buyer’s stamp duty [ABSD] to deter foreign buyers,” he says.
However, even the ABSD rate for Singapore Citizens and Singapore Permanent Residents investors buying their second and subsequent properties has been raised. “The higher ABSD has jolted people to sell first before buying their next property,” according to Dentons’ Lee. Those who have sold off their home will rent in the interim period before taking their time to purchase their next home. “Foreigners waiting for their PR approval will also rent in the meantime,” he adds. “Hence, many investors believe the rental market will continue northward.”
The strong and rewarding sales overall results also signalled that the demand for homes in the one-north precinct, given that the supply of new private residential launches in the area is limited, says PropNex’s Gafoor. The last project launch in 2021, the 165-unit One-North Eden, is fully sold. “There were no launches in the area for 14 years before One-North-Eden,” he adds.
Blossoms By The Park is one of the two sites for residential use around Biopolis and Fusionopolis. The other is the upcoming 142-unit The Hill @ One-North. Homes at one-north have investment appeal, notes Huttons’ Yip. “Rental rates at one-north are estimated to be 20% higher than nearby non-landed projects like Dover Parkview and Heritage View and are likely to outperform given the limited supply.” he says.
there are 400 multinational companies At one-north, fifteen public research and redevelopment institutions and institutions of higher learning such as Insead and Essec Business School, Curtins and corporate campuses like Unilever’s global campus, Unilever Campus @ one-north. There are about 50,000 research-based professionals, and more in the vicinity, at the National University Hospital (NUH), the National University of Singapore (NUS), and Science Parks 1 and 2. “Both owner-occupiers, as well as future renters, would prefer to stay near their workplace which take lesser time to commute daily.”
The Atelier Leedon Green Pullman Residences Terra Hill Blossoms By The Park
