Royalgreen: The master stroke in The Bukit Timah Collection

By Amy Tan

/ EdgeProp Singapore |

October 4, 2019 11:45 AM SGT

SINGAPORE (EDGEPROP) - The last of Allgreen Properties’ trilogy of new projects in the Bukit Timah enclave this year will be launched in mid-October. Priced competitively from $2,600 psf, the freehold, prime condo has been widely anticipated.

On the weekend of Oct 5-6, Allgreen Properties will hold the preview for Royalgreen. The 285-unit upscale condo is the final project in The Bukit Timah Collection, which contains three projects. The other two are the 476-unit Fourth Avenue Residences and the 115-unit Juniper Hill on Ewe Boon Road. Meanwhile, Royalgreen is located along Anamalai Road and 250m from the Sixth Avenue MRT Station on the Downtown Line.

Royalgreen is also just 300m from Fourth Avenue Residences, the first project in Allgreen Properties’ The Bukit Timah Collection. Launched in January this year, Fourth Avenue Residences is the sole 99-year leasehold development within the collection. To date, 102 units (21.4%) have been sold at an average transacted price of $2,407 psf, according to caveats lodged with URA Realis to date. It is considered one of the top-selling projects in the Core Central Region (CCR) this year.

Holding out for freehold

Given the proximity of Royalgreen to Fourth Avenue Residences, Anson Lim, Allgreen’s senior general manager for residential marketing and sales, believes that the former will appeal to those who have been holding out for a freehold project in the neighbourhood.

Scale model of Allgreen's Royalgreen (Photos: Samuel Isaac Chua/EdgeProp Singapore)

In addition to the freehold tenure, Royalgreen is competitively priced from $2,600 psf. Allgreen will also offer a 2% early-bird discount to buyers at Royalgreen’s launch on Oct 12. The developer intends to release a first phase of 108 units for sale, with the project jointly marketed by ERA Realty Network, Huttons Asia, OrangeTee & Tie, as well as Savills Singapore.

According to Allgreen’s Lim, Royalgreen is priced at a reasonable premium to Fourth Avenue Residences. “There’s usually a 15% price premium for new, freehold developments compared to 99-year leasehold projects in the same location,” says Lim. “During certain periods in the property cycle, it may even be up to 20%.”

Larger units

Apart from tenure, Allgreen has also differentiated the two projects with its apartment offerings. At Fourth Avenue Residences, about 67% of the 476 units are one- and two-bedroom apartments, including two-bedroom premium units. The one- and two-bedroom units range from 474 to 721 sq ft. Three-bedroom apartments at Fourth Avenue Residences start from 915 sq ft, while four-bedroom-plus-study units are from 1,475 sq ft.

Scale model of Allgreen's Fourth Avenue Residences

Meanwhile at Royalgreen, there are no one-bedroom suites. However, around 62% of the 285 units within the development are two-bedroom apartments, which include premium units and those with study or guest room. Sizes of the two-bedroom units range from 635 to 861 sq ft. The indicative prices of two-bedroom apartments start from $1.7 million.

Three-bedroom and three-bedroom-plus-study units at Royalgreen range from 926 sq ft to 1,076 sq ft, with indicative prices from $2.5 million. There are also four 1,259 sq ft four-bedroom-plus-study units and 18 four-bedroom premium apartments ranging from 1,431 to 1,475 sq ft.

Prime District 10 location

Royalgreen contains eight 5-storey blocks sitting on a 174,176 sq ft. It is located in the vicinity of a Good Class Bungalow enclave as well as top schools such as Hwa Chong Institution, Nanyang Primary School and Methodist Girls’ School.

The living area of a two-bedroom showunit at Royalgreen

Allgreen’s Lim believes there is pent-up demand for a freehold project in the area. The last launch of a freehold condo project in the Bukit Timah area was over a decade ago, namely that of the 175-unit The Sixth Avenue Residences by Keppel Land, which was launched in 2006 and completed in 2009.

“In the next three to five years, there are no freehold projects in the pipeline for launch in the vicinity,” notes Allgreen’s Lim.

In addition to a dearth of new freehold projects, Christine Sun, OrangeTee & Tie head of research and consultancy, points out that the resale stock is limited too, further reducing the available units for sale.

The three-bedroom showunit at Royalgreen

Royalgreen is expected to attract a mix of owner-occupiers who are buying with the aim of long-term capital appreciation. “As it’s freehold, Royalgreen is the type of project that people will buy for their own use or for the next generation – their children or even grandchildren,” says Allgreen’s Lim.

Owing to its location, the upscale development is likely to attract families with school-going children, adds OrangeTee & Tie’s Sun. She also expects Royalgreen to draw investors.

‘More exclusive’

“The slightly bigger two-bedroom and two-bedroom-plus-study unit types will appeal to small families, or couples with no children who are buying for their own use,” adds Sun. With just 285 units and its high-end finishing, Royalgreen is perceived to be “more exclusive” compared to Fourth Avenue Residences, she notes.

The bedroom in a two-bedroom showunit at Royalgreen

George Tan, managing director of Savills Residential, agrees. He sees Royalgreen as being “on the radar” of buyers who are currently sitting on 99-year leasehold properties and are now looking to upgrade to a freehold property in a prime location, primarily District 10.

“While the majority of the buyers are likely to be locals, there will be some foreign buyers looking for a well-located investment property – one that is freehold, in a prime area and near an MRT station,” adds Tan.

In the 12 months to September 2019, Chinese nationals made up 39% of foreign nationals who purchased private residential properties in prime District 10. They were followed by Indonesian buyers (19%) and Malaysians (10%), observes Nicholas Mak, ERA head of research and consultancy. (See chart below.)

ERA chart - Top 10 foreign nationalities that bought private residential in District 10

Top 10 foreign nationalities that bought private residential in District 10 (Source: ERA Realty Network)

For price trends, recent transactions, other project info, check out these projects' research page: Royalgreen, Fourth Avenue Residences, Juniper Hill

Pent-up demand

Allgreen’s Lim sees pent-up demand building up since the start of the year. “We actually had a lot of visitors at Fourth Avenue Residences who commented that they wanted a freehold property rather than 99-year leasehold,” he says. “They are typically residents in the area and are very familiar with the location.”

In fact, Allgreen had already foreseen this pent-up demand when it scooped up two freehold sites in the Bukit Timah area around the same time towards the end of 2017. They were namely the former Crystal Tower, which was purchased en bloc for $180.65 million ($1,840 psf per plot ratio), and the former Royalville, for $477.94 million ($1,960 psf ppr).

The former Crystal Tower has since been launched as Juniper Hill in July this year, while Royalgreen is the redevelopment of the former Royalville.

Scale model of Allgreen's Juniper Hill

Fourth Avenue Residences, on the other hand, was purchased in a Government Land Sales (GLS) tender, which Allgreen won in December 2017 with a bid of $533 million ($1,540 psf ppr). All in, Allgreen invested about $1.2 billion in its three residential sites in the Bukit Timah area towards the close of 2017.

Price premium

Prior to these collective sales, there were no available freehold sites for sale that were located within a 500m radius of Sixth Avenue MRT Station for at least two decades, notes Lee Sze Teck, director of research at Huttons Asia. “That’s why there were nine bids for the Royalville en bloc site.”

Rolling out Fourth Avenue Residences first was a strategic move by Allgreen, as the development sits on a 99-year leasehold site and is the biggest project within The Bukit Timah Collection – both in terms of land size and number of units. “Fourth Avenue Residences has set a new benchmark for a new high-end project in the area,” says Lim. “Royalgreen, being freehold, will therefore command a premium.”