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DEAL WATCH: Rare two-bedder in Alexis selling at $1,166 psf

By Tan Chee Yuen

/ The Edge Property |

October 7, 2016 10:57 AM SGT

A 1,055 sq ft, two-bedroom-plus-study unit at Alexis has been listed for sale at $1.23 million ($1,166 psf) on TheEdgeProperty.com. The unit is currently tenanted at a monthly rent of $3,200 with the lease expiring next July, says Kim Shoo of ERA Realty who is marketing the property. At the asking price, the gross rental yield translates into 3.1%.

Completed in 2012, Alexis is a freehold mixed-use development on Alexandra Road with 293 condominium units taking up six floors and 21 shop units on the first level. The majority of the 293 units are one- and two-bedroom units. When the project was launched in February 2009, all the units were snapped up in less than a fortnight. Prices of the units sold then ranged from $850 to $1,100 psf. In subsales, prices hit a high of $2,084 psf in August 2013 when a 398 sq ft unit fetched $830,000 during the last peak.

Alexis was jointly developed by Fission Group and Yi Kai Group. Its residential component consists almost entirely of “shoebox apartments” — one bedroom units of below 500 sq ft — and it was considered the first significant launch of such a development. One-bedroom units range from 366 to 527 sq ft and one-bedroom-plus- study units from 474 to 764 sq ft. Two-bedroom units and two-bedroom- plus-study units are between 527 and 1,055 sq ft. The units were popular with buyers, many of whom were investors, as the one-bedroom units and even some of the smaller two-bedroom ones were priced below $600,000.

Alexis is a freehold mixed-use development on Alexandra Road with 293 condominium units taking up six floors and 21 shop units on the first level

Over the past six months, a handful of large two-bedroom and two-bedroom-plus-study units, including one-bedroom-plus-study penthouses with roof terraces in the 1,000-to-1,100 sq ft range have been leased at an average of $3,820 a month, according to URA data.

Meanwhile, one-bedroom units of 300 to 500 sq ft have been leased at monthly rents of $2,000 to $3,100, or an average of $2,438, according to rental transactions in the months of June to August. For units in the 500-to-700 sq ft range, transacted rents averaged $2,800 a month over the same period, based on URA data.

At Alexis, one-bedroom units have been sold at prices ranging from $1,667 to $1,781 psf from June to September, according to URA Realis. In terms of absolute prices, units sold ranged from a 398 sq ft, one-bedder on the third level that fetched $675,000 ($1,695 psf) to a 388 sq ft, one-bedroom unit on the fifth level that went for $690,000 ($1,781 psf).

Prices of the one-bedroom-plus-study penthouses (including roof terrace) and two-bedroom units above 1,000 sq ft have been holding steady at above $1,200 psf. The most recent transaction was for a 1,076 sq ft, onebedroom-plus-study penthouse with roof terrace that changed hands for $1.35 million ($1,254 psf), according to a caveat lodged in January 2016.

Therefore, a two-bedroom unit above 1,000 sq ft priced below $1,200 psf is an attractive buy, according to Kim Shoo.

For more information, call ERA marketing agent Kim Shoo at 8268 2292.