Hao Yuan Investment, the developer behind the 653-unit Forestville executive condominium (EC), has instructed property agents to return cheques to buyers after it did not secure approval from the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) to sell units, reported The Straits Times.
“The developer of Forestville was given instructions from Controller of Housing (COH) on 28 December not to proceed with sales for the EC project,” said a URA spokesman, without providing reasons as to why no approval was given.
However, Hao Yuan still proceeded with the launch last Friday while giving its agents a “no-sale” instruction. The firm said property agents were told not to collect cheques and buyers were not granted an Option-to-Purchase.
Nevertheless, the company said that it would honour “expressions of interest”.
Despite this, some claimed that several agents continued to collect cheques for bookings.
Among them was Vincent Ong, who issued a cheque worth S$910,000 for a four-bedroom unit.
“The developer’s statement that no bookings of units were made contradicts the process I went through on Friday,” he noted.
Around 150 units at Forestville (pictured) which is located in Woodlands, attracted interest from potential buyers.
Property analysts found it unusual for a developer to proceed with a launch without URA’s stamp of approval to sell.
Colin Tan, Research Head at Chesterton Suntec International, said developers could be leveraging on the momentum and rising interest in ECs.
“As a developer, you’re not sure if market sentiment will last or not, so you will want to get some kind of commitment before interest is lost,” Tan said.
Romesh Navaratnarajah, Senior Editor of PropertyGuru, wrote this story. To contact him about this or other stories email romesh@propertyguru.com.sg
Related Stories:
Strong interest in Forestville EC
Echelon to commence sales this week