SINGAPORE (Sept 10): The launch of Avenue South Residence over the weekend saw 276 out of 300 units being sold, or 26% of the 1,074 units in the residential project.
Avenue South Residence is the first major residential project in Singapore’s Greater Southern Waterfront, a government plan to inject more job opportunities and a lived-in work population within the precinct.
The apartment units are spread across two 56-storey towers and five conserved four-storey apartment blocks.
The condominium project is jointly developed by UOL Group, UIC and Kheng Leong Co with stakes in the proportion of 50:30:20.
According to a Sept 9 DBS Group Research report, lead analyst Rachel Tan says this is possibly the "best-selling project during any launch weekend YTD", proving UOL’s strategy of phasing out and segmenting the project works as buyers were attracted to the first 300 units which were put on sale with an "offer price".
Buyers were most interested with the Heritage Collection, which had an average price of $1,780 psf. The Heritage Collection comprises just 86 units in five conserved blocks that were built by the former Singapore Improvement Trust (SIT), the predecessor of HDB.
Some units from the premium collection – Peak Collection – were also released with an average price of $2,250 psf. In the middle of the range is the Horizon Collection with an average price is $1,980 psf.
The one- to two- bedroom units were most popular and most of the buyers were Singaporeans. According to Tan, this implies "investment demand has returned for selected properties with strong growth potential in the long-term led by the Greater Southern Waterfront development".
Meanwhile, the three- and four-bedroom units also saw healthy takeup.
Looking ahead, UOL will soon be marketing the project overseas after it has received enquiries from foreign buyers. DBS says it should benefit from any spillover demand from Hong Kong/China investors looking at overseas properties.
DBS has a “buy” call on UOL with a target price of $8.53.
As at 11.20am, shares in UOL are trading at $7.40 or 0.6 times FY19 book with a dividend yield of 2.3%.
