SINGAPORE: London-listed developer and property investor Quintain Estates and Development has launched Mulberry House in Singapore.

The 16-storey building is located within the 85-acre Wembley Park regeneration scheme, which is adjacent to the historic Wembley Stadium, famous for hosting the annual FA (Football Association) Challenge Cup and European Cup finals.

“Wembley Park is equivalent in size to the Vatican City,” says Charles Calverley, Quintain’s development director for residential.

When completed in the next 10 to 20 years, it will have more than 5,500 homes.

This is not the first time that Quintain has launched its Wembley Park project in Singapore.

In March this year, Quintain showcased in Hong Kong and Singapore the 13-storey Cedar House, a 92-unit residential block, in its initial release.

It has since been fully sold at an average price above £570 psf.

Mulberry House will have 124 one- and two-bedroom apartments measuring 520 to 849 sq ft.

It is the flagship tower in Emerald Gardens, which is part of North West Village, Quintain’s second phase in the Wembley Park regeneration scheme.

Cedar House was the first block to be launched in Emerald Gardens, which, when fully completed, will have seven residential blocks.

Prior to Mulberry House’s official launch in Singapore on the weekend of Sept 27 and 28, 15 of the 30 units available for sale had already been sold to interested buyers, according to Richard Levine, Colliers International’s director of international properties for Southeast Asia.

The project is jointly marketed by Colliers International and Savills.

Prices for the project will start from £330,000 ($684,000) for a 520 sq ft one-bedroom apartment, or an average of £675 psf.

“A lot of buyers who bought during the pre-sales had also bought units in the first phase of Wembley Park,” notes Levine.

The first phase of Wembley Park development was completed last year.

A mixed-use development, it comprises 520 apartments, a 600-room student accommodation block, a four-star, 361-room Hilton Hotel, a civic centre (Brent Civic Centre) with a new library and events hub, as well as the London Designer Outlet, one of the biggest outlet malls in London.

It has more than 350,000 sq ft of retail space housing 70 stores, 20 restaurants and cafés, as well as a nine-screen Cineworld complex.

The 520 residential units in the first phase are fully sold.

According to Quintain’s Calverley, investor interest from Hong Kong and Singapore have been “healthy”, with these buyers accounting for the majority of foreign buyers and about 30% of total sales.

He believes Mulberry House will appeal to buyers, owing to its proximity to established dining and entertainment options within the area.

In recent years, demand for quality residential property in the outer regions — Zones 3 to 5 — has increased, as prices of central London have escalated.

Average price tags of residential property in Central London and the City now average £1.5 million, which is 42% above levels seen in the pre-crisis peak in May 2008, according to Rightmove.

“Wembley Park which is in Zone 4, is well placed to capitalise on this upward trend,” Calverley observes.

Colliers’ Levine expects rental demand to be equally strong.

“You will see a lot of office workers renting in Wembley and commuting to Central London,” he says.

He estimates gross rental yield for Mulberry House to be 5%.

The Wembley Park tube station is located nearby and is served by the Metropolitan and Jubilee lines, which provide direct access to the West End, Canary Wharf and the city.

Meanwhile, the shopping and entertainment hub of Marylebone is just nine minutes away.

“Increasingly, buyers and tenants are looking outside prime central London because there is limited supply, and regeneration areas such as Wembley Park are building great amenities for residents,” adds Levine.

According to Gavin Sung, Savills’ head of international property sales for Asia-Pacific, London needs 50,000 new homes a year.

“We estimate 82% of that economic demand is for homes costing no more than £700 psf,” he says.

“An increase in the sales rate and planning applications means that an average of just under 35,000 new homes a year is set to emerge over the next five years, leaving us with a shortfall of 15,000 homes a year.”

This article appeared in the City & Country of Issue 645 (Sept 29) of The Edge Singapore.