Clementi Park was unable to get 50 percent of its residents’ votes when it tried to go en bloc in 2006.
And this time around, Knight Frank, the marketing agent of Clementi Park, has pulled out from the collective sale agreement.
In the minutes of the recent meeting, Knight Frank said it lacked "confidence" that 80 percent of the owners would agree to put the property to en bloc sale. The company’s decision was based on a survey in which 382 of the 489 owners at Clementi Park took part.
It said that many owners do not want to sell their units, which are located on an undulated freehold land. It was also difficult to convince owners to agree to “one method of apportionment” due to the diversity of the strata area and share values.
As to whether the 80 percent target could be attained if the reserve price was raised to $1.4 billion from $1.25 billion, Knight Frank stated that “under the current market conditions, it would be challenging.”
Mr. Colin Tan, head of research and consultancy at Suntec Chesterton International, stressed that price is not a case since the market is “buoyant”, rather “these owners don’t want to sell, and Knight Frank, sensing their stubbornness, decided to pull out.”
During its final meeting last June 8, the collective sale committee (CSC) had considered appointing a new marketing agent.
However, most members noted that based on the “current market conditions and current ownership profile”, the result would likely be the same and doing it would be “futile”.
The CSC was terminated and the collective sale exercise was aborted.