Units of the same type from the second floor to the 15th floor will carry the same prices, said developer EL Development.
Property developer EL Development will offer a one-tier pricing scheme for its Parc Riviera condominium during the project’s soft launch this Saturday (5 November), reported The Straits Times.
The scheme will see units of the same type from the second floor to the 15th floor carrying the same prices.
A 603 sq ft two-bedroom unit, for instance, will be priced at $725,000, regardless of whether it is located on the second floor, the 15th floor, or anywhere in between. Units located higher up in the two 36-storey towers will have higher prices.
EL Development Managing Director Lim Yew Soon revealed that he came up with the novel strategy to give early buyers ‘maximum benefits’.
Typical early bird promotions that advertise units going for ‘$5xx,000’ usually leave buyers guessing a unit’s price as well as its level. He describes this approach as clichéd and ‘a bit old-fashioned’.
“We are telling people that the price starts from $550,000 for the one-bedroom (unit). We feel that $550,000 is an attractive price, even at the lower levels. But now that we have extended the price to 15 floors, it will be even more attractive,” he said.
Located near Pandan Reservoir, Parc Riviera comprises two 36-storey towers and a four-storey carpark. Sizes for the units range between 463 sq ft for a one-bedder and 1,711 sq ft for the biggest four-bedder. Around 64 percent of the development contains one- and two-bedroom units, said EL Development.
Lim noted that the price difference for units on the 15th and 16th levels will be ‘substantial’, by around five percent.
Meanwhile, property experts are optimistic about the scheme. In fact, PropNex Realty CEO Mohamed Ismail expects the strategy to be effective.
“This is one of the first times when a developer has dangled this type of carrot. This strategy will likely get greater interest from consumers as they have an incentive to come early to make up their minds, to get discounted prices for higher floors. There are real savings for the buyer,” he said.
Ong Kah Seng, Director of R’ST Research, on the other hand, said the strategy’s main purpose is to encourage buyers to ‘snap up’ units on the higher floors.
He added that units located on the higher floors of a 20-storey condominium are typically more expensive by up to 15 percent, compared to those located within the middle levels.
Although the scheme could mean that lower floor units may remain unsold for a while, this is immaterial since “the project would already have achieved a fairly good sales rate, resulting in the project achieving good break-even sales or even marginal profits”, said Ong.
Romesh Navaratnarajah, Senior Editor at PropertyGuru, edited this story. To contact him about this or other stories, email romesh@propertyguru.com.sg
