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DEAL WATCH: Unit at Viva selling below $2,000 psf

By Tan Chee Yuen

/ The Edge Property |

November 11, 2016 10:00 AM SGT

A four-bedroom unit at Viva has been listed for sale on TheEdgeProperty.com at $3.8 million ($1,940 psf). The 1,959 sq ft unit was previously leased, but is currently vacant. The unit is well-maintained and in good condition, according to Jack Tok, an agent with KF Property Network who is marketing the property.

The unit is on the 10th floor of one of the three 30-storey towers at Viva, a 235-unit freehold condo developed by Allgreen Properties. The project previewed at the trough of the property market in September 2008, after the collapse of Lehman Brothers investment bank that signalled the start of the global financial crisis. At that time, units sold ranged from $1,472 to $1,572 psf, according to caveats lodged with URA Realis.

Most of the units at Viva were sold between August and October 2009, at prices ranging from $1,385 psf for a three-bedroom property on the fifth level to $1,829 psf for a two-bedroom unit on the 29th floor, or an average of $1,546 psf, based on caveats lodged. For a freehold project in prime District 11, prices were considered very attractive then.

Viva is located on Suffolk Walk, within walking distance of the United Square shopping mall

Completed in 2012, all the units in Viva are fully sold. The project is located on Suffolk Walk, within walking distance of the United Square shopping mall, which is connected underground to the Novena MRT station and two other shopping malls, Velocity and Square 2.

According to The Edge Property Research findings, of the 1,026 residential units that were purchased in 2009 and resold during the market peak of 2013, 99.6% registered gains of at least $500,000. Even though the private property price index has corrected about 10.8% since 3Q2013, those who purchased units at the bottom of the market seven years ago would still be in the money if they were to sell them today.

Viva is popular with owner-occupiers as well as investors as its units are sizeable compared with newer developments in Newton and Novena, where most of the units are compact one- and two-bedders. Viva’s two-bedders are sized at 958 sq ft, with the two-bedroom+study at 1,044 sq ft. The three- and four-bedroom units are from 1,323 to 1,528 sq ft and 1,840 to 1,991 sq ft, respectively. The penthouses are between 4,908 and 6,339 sq ft.

In 2013, a 958 sq ft two-bedder on the 27th floor fetched $2,500 psf in a sub-sale, while an identical unit one floor below changed hands for $2,349 psf. Even though prices at Viva have softened along with the rest of the market following the imposition of a series of property cooling measures, they have held firm above the $2,000 psf threshold in the last four years.

The two most recent transactions at Viva were in October: A 1,346 sq ft three-bedder on the 18th floor was sold for $2.7 million ($2,007 psf), while a 1,044 sq ft two-bedder+study on the 28th floor fetched $2.05 million ($1,963 psf).

In August last year, a 1,959 sq ft, four-bedroom unit on the 19th floor changed hands for $4.05 million ($2,067 psf). The mid-level unit currently up for sale is in the same block and has a view of the swimming pool, Tok says. Given the size of the four-bedroom units at Viva, they are ideal for families, he adds.

URA data shows that the four most recent rental transactions for four-bedroom units at Viva averaged $10,000 a month. Based on the asking price for the unit, that would translate to a gross rental yield of 3.2%.

For more information, call marketing agent Jack Tok at 9667 7239.