An undisclosed local consortium has snapped up Geylang’s Advance Apartments for $26.5 million via private treaty, making this the fourth condo to undergo an en bloc sale in 2020. This is the freehold condo’s second attempt at a collective sale, according to The Business Times.
This site was first put up for sale in September 2020 and the tender closed without any bidders in the following month. This site is located along Lorong 25A Geylang and is less than 300m from Aljunied MRT making it a very favourable abode for those working in the city centre.
At $26.5 million, the sale price translates to a land rate of about $877 per square foot per plot ratio after factoring in the 7% bonus Gross Floor Area (GFA) for balconies and a development charge of about $3 million. The 11,439 square foot site can be redeveloped into a residential or an institutional development with a maximum of eight storeys, according to the latest URA Master Plan.
As a result of the sale, each owner of Advance Apartments will receive gross sale proceeds of between $1.7 million and over $2 million. Units at the condo are in two configurations—1,281 sq ft and 1,701 sq ft— and the last recorded transaction was for a 1,281 sq ft unit that changed hands for $1,080,000 ($893 psf) in October 2011.
The Geylang area has also seen a healthy buyer uptake of new launch condos this year despite the Covid-19 outbreak. New launch condo Arena Residences along Guillemard Road is officially sold out, whereas 36 out of 50 units at Noma have been sold since its August 2020 launch.
This marked the 4th successful collective sale in 2020 and there could be more to come as developers seek to replenish their land bank to meet the buoyant demand.