Rio Casa sold en-bloc for S$575mil

Lian Beng to ride wave of housing market recovery
Singapore-listed construction company Lian Beng Group has positioned itself to take advantage of the recovering private housing market...

 

Rio Casa, a 286-unit development at Hougang Avenue 7 has been sold collectively for S$575 million to Oxley-Lian Beng Venture Pte Ltd, revealed marketing agent Knight Frank.

Coupled with an additional differential premium of around S$208 million to top up the lease to a fresh 99 years and develop the site to a gross plot ratio (GPR) of 2.8, the purchase price works out to a land price of about S$706 per sq ft per plot ratio (psf ppr), based on its maximum permissible gross floor area (GFA) of around 1,109,447 sq ft.

The property was put up for collective sale in April, after more than 80 percent of the owners agreed to the en bloc sale.

Knight Frank noted that each owner is set to receive around S$2 million in gross sale price upon the “successful completion of the sale, which is subject to several conditions being met, including an order of sale by the Strata Titles Board or Court Approval”.

Featuring seven residential towers, the former HUDC estate has a site area of 36,811.1 sq m (about 396,231 sq ft) and enjoys a 200m frontage of riverfront. It is zoned for residential use under the Master Plan 2014.

Knight Frank executive director and head of investment & capital markets Ian Loh attributed the strong interest for the estate to its positive site attributes – which include easy access to Hougang MRT stations and bus interchange, proximity to Serangoon Park Connector, vast surrounding green spaces and waterfront view.

Aside from this, no new launch is “expected within the immediate vicinity, in the short to medium term”.

“The gross development value for this project is estimated at S$1.4 billion and can potentially be redeveloped to build about 1,400 residential units, assuming an average size of 70 sq m per unit,” he added.

 

This article was edited by Denise Djong.