Sales tapering off

NTUC Choice Homes and Ho Bee found buyers for another nine units at Dakota Residences last weekend. This brings total sales to 170 units in the 99-year project, which has an average price of about $980 psf.

Another 10 units sold

NTUC Choice Homes and Ho Bee Investment sold another 10 units at the weekend at Dakota Residences . The sales tally is 161 for the 348-unit, 99-year condo that is currently selling at an average price of $980 psf.

Any buyer financing tie up?

I went to Dakota Residences showflat yesterday, now 80% sold for first phase. Good units taken up. The agent told me that the second phase will be up by $50 psf at least with good facing, high floors, going above that. Of cos, marketing talk, let's see how it pans out. Weekday afternoon, still got 5-6 pairs/groups in the showroom. So, looks like it is well received. The facing towards the landed property, river is charming... 
 
Anyone knows whether there is any buyer financing tie up for this project?

Sales encouraging

Ho Bee Investment and NTUC Choice Homes have sold 80 units at Dakota Residences over the weekend. The developers have so far released 122 units in the 348-unit project at an average price of $970 per square foot - lower than the $1,000 to $1,100 psf Ho Bee had indicated in June 2007 when the developers emerged as the top bidders for the 99-year leasehold site. 
 
No deferred payment is available for the 19-storey condominium project, which will front Geylang River. 
 
Buyers are predominantly Singaporeans, many with private home addresses. ‘The majority of them live in the East Coast area, some even in landed homes. We have quite a number of professionals among the buyers,’ said Ho Bee executive director Ong Chong Hua. 
 
‘It shows that if you price your project right, there are still buyers. There’s quite a bit of pent-up demand. Also buyers like the project’s proximity to Dakota MRT Station and the popular Old Airport Road Food Centre. The location is also very close to the popular East Coast area,’ he added. 
 
The plans for the Sports Hub and and Kallang Riverside area have also helped to stir interest in the project, Mr Ong reckons. 
 
The project comprises a mix of two, three and four-bedroom apartments and penthouses. Both penthouses in the stack of 122 units released so far have been sold - a 3,700 sq ft unit went for $3.37 million and the other, a 2,605 sq ft unit, fetched $2.62 million. A typical three-bedroom apartment of about 1,300 sq ft in the development costs about $1.3 million on average. 
 
Ho Bee and NTUC Choice Homes paid $524 psf per plot ratio at a state tender last year for the Dakota Residences site, which attracted a whopping 15 bids.

Price coming down

Developers facing no sign of improvement in the cooling property market are choosing to move units by making their projects more affordable rather than continuing to wait out the gloomy sentiment. 
 
One example is Dakota Residences in Dakota Crescent, a 99-year leasehold project by Ho Bee Investment and NTUC Choice Homes. 
 
Sales of its 348 units will start next Saturday at an average of about $950 per sq ft (psf) - below the $1,000 psf to $1,100 psf that Ho Bee had previously targeted. 
 
120 units will be released in the first phase, and prices may go up by at least 5 per cent for the remaining units, depending on demand.

Expected to be under $1,000 psf

Ho Bee and NTUC Choice Homes are previewing The Dakota later this month. The average price of the 99-year leasehold condo is expected to be 'under $1,000 psf', BT understands. This is lower than than the 1,000-1,100 psf average price expectation Ho Bee had indicated in June last year when the developers emerged as the top bidder for the plot at a state tender.