Process marked byacrimony and vandalism may finally have a happy ending for owners
THE owners of homes at Laguna Park condominium at Marine Parade are inching closer to a collective sale, after securing approval from owners representing 76 per cent of the share values at the property.
The owners have been working on a collective sale since last year, and the process has been marked by acrimony and vandalism. The chairman of the management committee was even arrested in August on suspicion of gluing shut two residents’ apartment doors.
Residents say they are optimistic that they will be able to secure a few more signatures backing the sale to cross the 80 per cent trigger that would bring the sales process forward.
If this takes place, the :99-year leasehold property, which has 528 units, will come onto the market at a very tough time. Last year, there were 104 successful collective sales transactions. This year, there have been just seven, and analysts expect the trend to continue into next year.
Channel NewsAsia: understands the asking price is about $1.2 billion. Each owner stands to pocket between $1.8 million and $2.1 million if the deal goes through.
Laguna Park condominium sits on 667,000 square feet of land with a plot ratio of 2.8.
Given the sheer size of the development, the bidder for Laguna Park will likely need partners. The 1,200 and 1,500 units of new homes that the site could yield could also pose a challenge as the developer may have to spread out its marketing efforts over a year, incurring a fair amount of cost in the process, said analysts.
“Another challenge facing the en bloc market is actually difficulty in raising financing from the banks, because the banks are in a tight situation, and they would also be looking at any sort of massive borrowing very conservatively,” said Nicholas Mak, director of consultancy and research at Knight Frank.
Source : Today – 12 Dec 2008