DEAL WATCH: Maisonette at Sutton Place going for $3.79 mil

By Tan Chee Yuen

/ The Edge Property |

November 27, 2016 8:00 AM SGT

Sutton Place is a freehold condominium located off Farrer Road in prime District 10. It was developed by Peak Properties and completed in 1989. The 44-unit condo has a mix of two- to four-bedroom units with sizes ranging from 1,281 to 3,714 sq ft, and maisonette units from 2,368 to 3,401 sq ft.

Situated just 500m from Farrer Road MRT station, Sutton Place is also one MRT stop from the Holland Village and Botanic Gardens stations. On the market is a 2,799 sq ft four-bedroom maisonette at Sutton Place with a price tag of $3.79 million ($1,353 psf), according to a listing on TheEdgeProperty.com. Three of the bedrooms are on the upper floor; the fourth bedroom and a helper’s room are on the lower floor. The unit also comes with two designated parking spaces.

The seller is a Singapore-incorporated company that purchased the unit in 2006, according to Eddie Teh, a property agent with PropNex Realty who is marketing the units. As it is an investment property, it has been leased at a monthly rate of $7,000 to $10,000 over the years. The owner has decided to put the maisonette up for sale in order to switch to buying luxury condos in the Orchard Road neighbourhood, says Teh.

The last transaction of a 2,799 sq ft unit at Sutton Place was at the previous peak, when a fifth-floor unit was flipped for $3.65 million ($1,304 psf) in June 2007

Latest URA data for Sutton Place shows rental rates of large units of 2,900 to 3,000 sq ft done at monthly rental rates of $7,300 and $7,800, or an average of $2.50 to $2.60 psf per month.

Very few maisonettes have been offered for sale over the years, as many were purchased for long-term investment or owner occupation, says Teh. The last transaction of a 2,799 sq ft unit at Sutton Place was at the previous peak, when a fifth floor unit was flipped for $3.65 million ($1,304 psf) in June 2007, barely three months after changing hands for $2.5 million ($893 psf) two months earlier, according to caveats lodged then. Therefore, maisonettes of such sizes are sought after, according to PropNex’s Teh.

The latest transaction at Sutton Place was that of a 1,281 sq ft two-bedder on the second level that fetched $1.76 million ($1,374 psf), according to a caveat lodged in March.

Next door is The Wilshire, which was completed in 1984. In February last year, the freehold 20-unit condo sitting on a 39,130 sq ft site with a plot ratio of 1.6 was put up for collective sale at a reserve price of $95 million ($1,392 psf per plot ratio). Savills was the appointed marketing agent. The last transaction of a unit at The Wilshire was in April 2011, when a 5,662 sq ft unit on the second level changed hands for $4.36 million ($769 psf), according to a caveat lodged with URA Realis then. It is just a matter of time before The Wilshire may attempt another collective sale, according to sources.

Sutton Place also has collective sale potential because “it’s also a cosy development on a desirable freehold land plot”, says Suzie Mok, senior director of investment sales at Savills Singapore. "Owners however, are reluctant to sell owing to the difficulty in finding a replacement property that offers similar unit size and site attributes."

In the vicinity is also the 126-unit freehold The Levelz by CapitaLand Singapore. The 12-storey project was completed in 2004 and comprises two-bedroom units measuring 980 to 1,335 sq ft. The most recent transaction at The Levelz was that of an 807 sq ft unit on the second floor that fetched $1.18 million ($1,462 psf), according to a caveat lodged in October. Back in 2004, the unit was sold for $643,500 ($797 psf).

For more information, visit tinyurl.com/DealWatch-S756.