Project Spotlight: Latitude

Latitude, a high-end condominium located on Jalan Mutiara in the prime River Valley area, has seen a spike in transactions since late July. The 127-unit freehold condo by giant listed developer CapitaLand was completed late last year. Caveat data downloaded from URA for the period from July 26 to Aug 2 saw four caveats lodged for the sale of four 4-bedroom units sized at 2,766 to 2,928sqft. The quantum prices achieved ranged from $5.84 million to $6.15 million, or an average of $1,944 to $2,224psf.

Latitude comprises three towers, with a 22-storey tower and two 23-storey towers. Units comprise a mix of two- to four-bedroom apartments and four-bedroom penthouses. Two-bedroom units measure 1,324sqft, and penthouses measure 5,317sqft. The property is in the prestigious District 10, just five minutes' drive from the Orchard Road shopping belt.

In 4Q2007, CapitaLand sold 10 units at Latitude in the first phase of release. Prices achieved then, which in hindsight was the peak of the property boom, ranged from $2,500 to $2,800psf. With the spectre of the US subprime crisis and credit crunch affecting stock markets, market sentiment changed in early 2008, and many developers held back the launches of their high-end projects. According to caveats lodged with URA Realis, only one unit at Latitude was sold in 2008 - to a buyer with an HDB address. It was the sale of an eighth-floor, two-bedroom unit for $3.29 million ($2,487psf).

In 2009, in the aftermath of the global financial crisis and as home buying demand picked up, 48 units at the Latitude were sold, marking the largest number of units sold in a year since its launch. Prices of units sold ranged from $1,640psf for a two-bedroom unit to $2,305psf for a four-bedroom apartment. In 2010, there was a mix of new sales and sub-sales, with prices ranging from $1,738psf for a three-bedroom unit to $2,318psf for a penthouse unit.

Transactions achieved so far this year ranged from $2,504 to $2,239psf, according to caveats lodged with URA Realis. Marketing agents focusing on high-end condos in the prime districts of 9, 10 and 11 consider Latitude an attractive choice among investors and owner-occupiers. Four-bedroom units at Latitude command rental rates of about $15,000 a month, says Vivienne Koo, associate director of Tristar Properties. Thus, investors can achieve rental yields of 3%, which is higher than the average 2% to 2.3% for luxury properties in the prime districts, she adds.

"The Grange, for example, commands similar rents of about $15,000 a month for a four-bedroom unit, but its quantum price is also much higher," says Koo. According to listings on PropertyGuru.com.sg, a four-bedroom unit at The Grange, located off Grange Road, is priced at $6 million, or $2,800psf.

Another attraction for most potential home-owners and investors is the size of the four-bedroom apartments at Latitude. While most new luxury properties have four-bedroom apartments of about 2,300sqft, those at Latitude are close to 2,700sqft. " You can't really find such large sizes in the prime districts anymore, as many of the condominiums built in the old days that feature such large sizes have been sold en bloc, torn down and rebuilt into smaller units," says Koo.

The units have quality furnishing, spacious kitchens and good layouts, observes Koo. As such, more than half the buyers at Latitude are own-occupiers, and investors make up the rest. Most of the buyers are foreigners, with the project being especially among Indonesians and mainland Chinese. Some of these buyers, especially Indonesians, have purchased two or three apartments to be amalgamated into one large unit to accommodate their extended families. " This is something that you don't usually find in condominiums here in Singapore," she says.

Source: THEEDGE SINGAPORE

The wife and I understand that about 80% of units in Latitude have been sold thus far. So CapitaLand have already made their millions on this project and should be in no hurry to sell off the remaining units. And given the uncertain economic climate and bloodshed seen at the stock markets recently, we will be very surprised if unit at Latitude crosses the $2,200psf mark again in the next couple of months (at least)...
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