From the Grapevine....

Florence Regency: Word has it that after the close of tender the CSC got busy talking to up to 13 developers, 2 of whom were interested enough to do a site inspection. The deadline for an offer was 7am on 20 Oct 2017. I believe the S&P was signed at 6am after a long night of negotiations. The conditions sound similar to TC:  $50k retention sum upon vacant possession, 6 months to vacate, developer can claim back full deposit if things go wrong.

They don't have to absorb the difference in DP (DC + LUP) should they be higher than estimated.

This is not the case with Rio Casa & Serangoon Ville who DO have to absorb the DP difference should it be necessary.

There is also a rumour that all is not well at Rio Casa - there is some issue about a LTA report about traffic congestion should the plot ratio be maximised.

Update:
Rio Casa: comment below from RC owner:
'RC has received approval from STB. Residents were informed by their lawyer that the purchaser is currently working with the authority on the LUP, Must have encountered some roadblocks for the delay from Q1'18 to Q2'18. Earlier, they were expecting Jan/Feb 17 to complete legal settlement'

Cooling measures ahead?

The URA is causing jitters...

Isn't it amazing how the URA, with all it's masterplanning, zoning powers etc has shown such little interest in the enormous private enbloc residential sector up until now. It's been over 20 years since enbloc started (was Shanghai Residences sold in 1995 the first?) but it has taken them this long to train their gaze onto enblocs.

Househunting - Resale HDB

Anonymity Vs Privacy

So why am I dead against putting YOUR ACTUAL name as apposed to monikers / anonymous on the web?

Simple answer: it gives a modicum (or fig leaf) of privacy. 

Anonymity and privacy are two different kettle of fish.  Your real name is your legal name and every time you use it on the web  you leave a digital footprint which cannot be erased completely. We have all used out legal names countless times when filling in forms etc so none of us is digitally clean. It is an impossibility on this day and age - but we can limit it to important things only. 

Objections at STB

Florence Regency Sold for $629m

TC Update

19 Oct 2017

Chill Time

Missing post

En blocs can mean upheaval and drama for residents

The editor of the above newspaper has kindly agreed to remove my name from the article. I did not give an interview.

I have returned the courtesy and removed the post as requested.

Househunting - Resale Private Property

Like most people I have been looking around to see what is out there. I have my own criteria with regard to tenure, size, floor level, age, & location etc. It's a challenge and not one I relish. I hate all kinds of shopping and house hunting is right up there at the top, along with shoes. I will probably end up buying the first one that 'feels right'. One thing I will tell you, it won't be HDB. My propertyguru 'shortlist' has grown to 40. 

I went to see one show flat just for fun recently. The new unit sizes were incredibly small. They were quite desperate to sell and asked me if I had brought my chequebook! Not a chance! As if I would sign for the most expensive thing in my entire life in 20 minutes.  Anyway, they called later in the evening to say they would give me $100k discount by throwing in the ID showflat for free. The location was perfect, the ID very nice, size of development excellent, facilities good, maintenance fee reasonable, but the answer was - and was always going to be - no. The price was unreasonable even with the discount. Buyers can do their own research to find out the historical price of units sold. 

Blur

Some in the majority camp don't know the terms and conditions they signed for in the CSA. Two ladies on the FB page think that the Marketing Agent and Lawyers fees are too high and should be renegotiated. 

'All this fees re negotiable' FB 10 Oct 2017

I have news for them, they may be on the high side but those were the terms agreed by the CSC in early 2016 and subsequently endorsed by your sweet selves when you signed the CSA. They cannot be renegotiated 16 months after the fact.

Ivory Heights Development Info

Blogger's position

• Will there be objections made at the STB?

I believe there will be a few (possibly 4) people objecting to the sale. This is Tampines Court - we don't go down without a fight or, at the very least, a squeak.

Will this blogger make an objection at the STB?

I thought long and hard about this. On the one hand, this CSC and this Marketing Agent do not deserve an officially clean record at the STB. This collective sale was a bungle from beginning to almost the end. It seemed both teams of 'experts' had a learning curve to overcome. They worked from low expectations and high negativity about the estate. On the other hand, this was all overturned in the last month of the first period. They went with the flow of the market and for the majority at least, all was forgiven. I also want to say that even in the face of this obstreperous blogger the MA and Lawyer always comported themselves with professional grace, never once raising their voice or threatening me with legal action. They may not have answered my questions to my satisfaction - but at least they were never, ever rude. 

Was there a lack of good faith?

In my humble opinion, no. 

So, this Blogger will not be throwing her hat into the ring. Other Minority might object as is their right and if any unfair practices are unearthed in the process then I shall accept whatever judgement is made - if it goes that far - which I doubt.

Ivory Heights going to Collective Sale

Ivory Heights Collective Sale Website

Ivory Heights (Jurong East)

No. Units: 654
Land Size: 825,500 sqft
Sales Committee formed : 8 Jul 2017
This site only has a DP for Lease Top up.


Ivory Heights Collective Sale Website


The Law firm that handled Tampines Court's Sale is the Enbloc Lawer for Ivory Heights.

They learnt the LTSA ropes with Tampines Court.
We trained them well:)

Residential Collective Sales Jan-Oct 2017

My Table: Residential Enblocs 2017

A very ho-hum article in the Sunday ST today (8 Oct 2017).  Thought I'd put up my own collective sale tally.

My Table: HUDC Enblocs To Date

Florence Regency Tender

7 October 2017

Standoff in Florence Regency en bloc sale amid risk of oversupply in area

6 October 2017

The 3 bidders in the Florence Regency tender have declined to raise their bids or reconsider their terms and conditions. So now the CSC are skipping to scenario 3: look for any buyer willing to sign within the 10 week private treaty window. Good luck there - the bid has to be at least $629m to match the LTSA mandated valuation.

Failing that they will go for Scenario 4; a new tender in Jan 2018 and a new LTSA mandated Valuation at close of tender. 

They have 1 year to make an application for sale to the STB from date of 80% - so enough time for at least one more roll of the dice.

Either way, I think they are toast.

Normanton Park

Normanton Park is not an ex-HUDC, it was built to house the military and their families in 1977. it is therefore 10 years older than our estate.

Reserve price: $800 million
Estimated DP: $225m (DC)  +  $226m (LUP)
488 Units
11 days to reach 80%
2 weeks to launch tender
Tender closes 5 Oct 2017

5 OCT 2017

Sold for $830.1m / $969 psfppr

Number of Bids: 'several'

Buyer; Kingsford Huray Development

3 JAN 2018

SALE ORDER

All HUDCs going Enbloc

LUP (Lease Upgrading Premium)

Differential Premiums (to be paid by Buyer) :

1) for Increase in Intensity of land (from low to higher plot ratio)

2) for Lease Top-Up (LUP) - topping up to 99 years for leasehold developments

There has been a lot of comments regarding the LUP on this blog, a few people are worried that this might scuttle the sale. So, what is this mythical LUP? And can I calculate it?

LUP: is the Lease Upgrading Premium.

Tampines Court has a 101yr lease from 1985 of which we have about 69 years left.

The Buyer has to pay for the Differential Premium for

1)  The Increase in Intensity - in other words they can squeeze more units out of the plot when the plot ratio is increased from the old 1.71 (or 1.5558 TBD) to the masterplan 2.8.

This is a relatively straightforward calculation using Government tables and I can see no mention of it in the S&P (though I will check again)
(Our MA refers to this increase in intensity as DP, others refer to it as DC)

2) The Upgrading of Lease Tenure (the LUP)

Now this is done by the Government's Chief Valuer - so the Buyer has to wait and see what it is. 

If it is anything more than $115m then the Buyer can abort the sale (Clause 3E in S&P)

Will $115m be enough? Have they underestimated the LUP?  
Nobody can say for certain that all will be right on the day. No one can guarantee that the sale is a done deal until.... it's a done deal.

The Step 2 below is a worked example from the URA website

For the life of me, I cannot figure out how it is done. it seems to be a chicken and egg situation - I suppose that is why it is left for the Chief Valuer to do. Step 2 seems straightforward enough once you know the market value of the land. Now, there's the rub: to know the market value of the land, you need to know the LUP.
It's a conundrum.

If $115m is the upper limit for this Buyer, then the 'valuation' had better not exceed $1.05b if my table is correct ... and I am not sure it is. My nomenclature might be off, too.

The following is UNCONFIRMED. I am not a peddler of fake news - that's why I am telling you that the following information only came to be by email. If it turns out to be false, I will say so.

I heard  a report today that Rio Casa and Serangoon Ville have to absorb the DP difference between the estimated DP and whatever it is now. At the time of sale, the newspapers gave $208m & $195m  respectively as the estimated DP (lumping both items 1) and 2) above into one sum).
It goes to show that cutting corners does not pay in the long run.
This is what happened to Regent Gardens in 2008

MY STAB AT DP FOR INCREASE IN INTENSITY FOR TAMPINES COURT

Differential Premiums (to be paid by Buyer):
1) for Increase in Intensity of land (from low to higher plot ratio)
2) for Lease Top-Up (LUP) - topping up to 99 years for leasehold developments 
(you can't open the link because I am rethinking this - I can't compute Normanton's LUP so I figure there's something wrong with my computations...hmmm)

Looking at the Sale price Analysis slide (25 Aug 2017) the DP for increase in land intensity was given as $234,724,555.  They gave the existing plot ratio as 1.555 and it looks like they used the DC rate for Mar 2017 ($3500) instead of the Sep 2017 rate of $4200. Tampines Court was sold on 22 Aug 2017 - in the nick of time before the rate increase perhaps?

Note: the development baseline has not yet been ascertained. Using the lower PR is to the Buyer's advantage. 

1) DP for INCREASE IN INTENSITY OF LAND

Summary Table

TABLES:

STEP 1

Example of calculation from SLA website followed by 4 computations using existing plot ratios 1.55584 & 1.71 and Mar 2017 $ Sep 2017 DC rates respectively

Amber Park

Reserve Price: $768 m
No DP as it is Freehold
200 units
4th time put up for collective sale

Tender closes 3 Oct 2017

This is probably where all our potential bidders skedaddled off to.
We are not in the same league as this condo. They are FH and luxury, we are LH and mass market. Their new units will sell for higher prices, but ours will sell faster.

SOLD for record breaking $906.7M 

Number of bids: 8
Buyer: CDL
a whopping $1,515 psfppr