A three-bedroom apartment at Ville Royale (pictured) was the only property sold out of 16 listings submitted for a public auction conducted by JLL at Amara Hotel last Thursday.
The 1,389 sq ft first floor unit had been put up for mortgagee sale (vacant possession) with an opening bid of $1.81 million and was sold for $1.83 million.
Located along River Valley Road in District 9, the 43-unit freehold Ville Royale was completed in 1993.
JLL’s latest auction comprised mainly residential apartments and landed homes but there were also three commercial properties available – a shop unit, two-storey shophouse and factory space.
The most expensive listing was a two-storey semi-detached house along Rosyth Road with a price tag of $5.7 million.
Notably, half of the properties were put up for auction by banks after buyers defaulted on mortgages.
A recent news report quoting JLL revealed that higher activity in the auction market last year was due in part to growing mortgagee sales.
Since the introduction of the Total Debt Servicing Ratio (TDSR) framework in June 2013, the number of mortgagee listings has risen from only 28 in 2013 to 150 last year, said JLL.
At the same time, the softer leasing market means more units are being sold with vacant possession. According to JLL, 26 of the 32 properties sold at auction in 2014 were on a vacant possession basis.
The next JLL auction will be held on 26 February.
Romesh Navaratnarajah, Singapore Editor at PropertyGuru, wrote this story. To contact him about this or other stories email romesh@propertyguru.com.sg
