Out of 60 previewed flats last Friday, HO Bee Investment sold 36 flats at its Trilight condominium located at the highest point of Newton Road. The freehold development, which is a 30-storey building, has an average price of $1,650 per square foot (psf).
The released condos are priced about $2–$4 million each. HO Bee Investment did not provide any interest absorption scheme, a scheme which the government announced to have been scrapped under the September 14 measures intended to pacify the property market of private residences.
Ong Chong Hua, executive director of Ho Bee, said that the decision to remove the scheme had a reasonable outcome.
”We really could not ask for more, (with our preview) coming after the cooling measures,” Mr. Ong said. ”We’ve sold 36 units, but there are many others who are interested and checking on their financials.”
Referring to Trilight condos’ generously sized units, ranging from 1,109 square feet to 1,227 square feet for just the two-bedroom units, Mr. Ong jested, “This is not a normal shoebox apartment development.”
The setback of having luxurious size units is the expensive lumpsum price for each condo. In trilight, the cheapest unit with two bedroom costs $1.82 million. The lowest level in this 30-storey condominium is on the fifth floor of the development.
Most buyers at Trilight condo choose the two-bedroom apartments, reflecting that affordability remains to be a significant factor with home buyers. Along with the 2 of the 7 apartments with four bedroom, which Ho Bee offered, and 8 of the 21 apartments with three bedrooms, 26 of the 32 offered two-bedders were already taken up.
While prices for the two-bedders range from $1.82 million to $2.2 million, each four-bedders cost about $4 million and the three-bedders range from $3.5 million to $3.65 million. Most home buyers at Trilight condo were Singaporeans. One unit was even bought by a US tourist couple who had visited Singapore.
“They have private addresses, are generally over 40 years old, and discerning; they know what they want. They like the location – its proximity to Newton Hawker Centre and the MRT station,” said, Mr. Ong, referring to buyers from Singapore.