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Encouraged by the $276.2 million sale of Golden Wall Centre last November, the owners of Singapore’s gadget hub Sim Lim Square have decided to put the property up for en bloc sale at $1.3 billion, up from its initial asking price of $1.1 billion.
The New Paper reported that 80.82 percent of owners by share value and 81.43 percent of owners by strata area agreed for the six-storey mall to go en bloc.
Marketing agent SLP Scotia is looking to put the 99-year leasehold property up for collective sale by the end of April.
In explaining the higher asking price, Sim Lim Square’s collective sale committee chairman Vikas Gupta said the consensus among the owners was that the “market was doing better than when we first decided on the asking price of $1.1 billion early last year”.
“We saw transactions like Golden Wall and we believe we are a better site with MRT connection as well as a square plot with two main roads. So our price is quite a competitive one,” he noted.
Since the collective sale committee was set up almost two years ago, Gupta was relieved that the 80 percent mark was achieved.
“There were a lot of owners who were doubting if we could do it at first. But even the initial doubters supported us in the end. Some were surprised how we got the 80 percent.”
Chris Koh, director at Chris International, said the big question facing owners is whether developers will be interested.
“There are a lot of en bloc projects raising prices to get the owners to sign. But it’s not so much the asking prices but rather whether developers will bite,” he said. “Developers are getting picky and have a fixed budget.”
Despite this, Koh is optimistic for Sim Lim Square given its location “as sites in this area are rarely available”.
(Photo: SLP International Property Consultants)
Romesh Navaratnarajah, Senior Editor at PropertyGuru, edited this story. To contact him about this or other stories, email romesh@propertyguru.com.sg
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