The preview for the development’s residential units follows the new launches of its strata office units in October.
An artist's impression of One Sophia, which has 367 residential units and 79 strata offices.
The mixed-use development One Sophia has sold 35 residential units – around 10 per cent of the 367 available – at an average price of S$2,750 per square foot (psf) since its preview sale launched on Wednesday (Nov 6). All unit types were sold, with the bulk of the sales for studio and two-bedroom units, said developer SingHaiyi.
The sales were made in a generally muted market for new homes in the prime Core Central Region.
Prices started at S$2,650 psf for studio units, sized 40 to 42 square metres (sq m); S$2,782 psf for the one-bedders (45 to 51 sq m); S$2,561 psf for the two-bedders (60 to 71 sq m); and S$2,782 psf for the three-bedders (95 to 116 sq m).
The sale of these residential units follows the new launches of the development’s strata office units in late October. Some 23 units, or 30 per cent, of its 79 strata offices were sold at between S$3,121 psf and S$3,493 psf then.
Sales totalled S$102.5 million, or an average of S$3,330 psf, over the launch weekend. As at Thursday, around 34 per cent of the development’s strata office units had been sold, with sales valued at over S$118 million.
In a statement on Thursday, SingHaiyi group chief executive officer Raymond Chia said the sales launch of One Sophia’s residential development was initially planned for January 2025. “However, in response to the robust interest and queries we received from prospects who attended the strata office launch (last month), we decided to conduct a preview sale this November.” So far, One Sophia has attracted both local and international buyers, he noted.
Located on the site of the former Peace Centre and Peace Mansion in District 9, the mixed-use development occupies a 7,118 sq m plot. It comprises a 13-storey commercial tower, named One Sophia, and two residential blocks named The Collective at One Sophia.
Some 60 per cent of the entire development’s gross floor area (GFA), at 33,700.29 sq m, will be for commercial use; the remaining 40 per cent of GFA will be residential. The joint developers, entities linked to CEL Development (formerly known as Chip Eng Seng) and SingHaiyi, acquired the site in December 2021 for S$650 million. That translated to a land rate of S$1,426 psf per plot ratio (ppr), including a premium to top up the 99-year lease on the sites.
Factoring in a 7 per cent bonus GFA from an incentive scheme brought the land rate to about S$1,388 psf ppr.
PropNex chief executive Ismail Gafoor pointed out that new-home sales in Singapore’s prime Core Central Region (CCR) have been muted since April last year, when the Additional Buyer’s Stamp Duty was hiked. Developers sold just 54 new private homes in the CCR in the entire third quarter, he said. “The Collective at One Sophia’s preview sales are already more than half of that figure.” He added: “Additionally, new launches usually have a preview period of two weeks, but The Collective at One Sophia had a much shorter preview runway of just five days.”
Marcus Chu, chief executive of ERA Singapore, added: “Given the number of projects launching this month, the (preview) for keen buyers showed that (the) interest level is very encouraging, and buyer interest remains firm.”
The Collective at One Sophia will be launched for public sales sometime in January.
Source: The Business Times