HONG Kong developer Cheung Kong has set record selling prices for residential projects in the West Coast area.

It managed to sell all 100 units released in the first phase of sale for the 99-year-leasehold The Vision yesterday. Of these, two penthouses went for $3.6 million each, which works out to around $1,332 per square foot (psf).

Buyers paid around $1,000-$1,200 psf for two, three and four-bedroom units, which start from 818 sq ft in size. Cheung Kong also sold several strata terrace units, and the highest price fetched was $3.2 million.

According to the developer’s sales manager Cannas Ho, upgraders made up more than 60 per cent of the buyers, and investors accounted for the remainder.

The Vision will have 281 apartments and 14 strata terrace units altogether. In view of the strong demand, the developer will release another 20 units of two to four-bedders for sale this weekend. Cheung Kong had planned to start the second phase of sale by Q4 this year. Whether it brings the release forward will depend on market response to the project, Ms Ho said.

Take-up so far surprised some market watchers, given that The Vision’s asking prices are higher than those of other developments nearby.

One of the newer launches in the area, City Developments’ Hundred Trees, achieved prices of above $1,100 psf in recent months. But those transactions involved mainly smaller units measuring 484 sq ft, and the project has a 956-year lease.

The robust take-up of units at The Vision ’shows the strong underlying demand for mass-market homes’, said Colliers International research and advisory director Tay Huey Ying. The prices achieved could raise the value of homes in the vicinity, and provide a guide for future launches, she added.

Cheung Kong’s Ms Ho attributed The Vision’s attractiveness to ‘good location and first-class amenities’. The site is across the road from West Coast Park and the sea.

Another developer felt that prices at The Vision are not that staggering, considering the attributes of the site, and that West Coast is home to several private housing estates. The market should not see the prices as signs of a bubble forming, he said.

Nevertheless, observers will be keeping watch on prices of upcoming launches nearby. Far East Organization’s Horizon Residences, a freehold 72-unit project in the Pasir Panjang area, could be previewed in the next few weeks.

Elsewhere, the buzz is starting for property agents promoting 76 Shenton Way. Some will be presenting information on the 99-year-leasehold 202-unit project to potential buyers today. Asking prices are said to range from $1,600 psf to above $2,000 psf, depending on the level of the units.

Agents are also gathering interest for Fragrance Group’s 161-unit Parc Elegance in Telok Kurau and Novelty Group’s Primo Residences near Kovan MRT station.

Source: Business Times, 13 Mar 2010

Imagine walking along a horseshoe-shaped bridge on a Sunday morning, catching the first glimpse of the sun as it rises from a waterway.

Or in the evening, heading to another similarly shaped bridge, but this one with a shaded dome, where you can see the setting sun reflected in the water.

And best of all, there is no need to travel overseas to enjoy these scenes.

By the end of the year, all this will be possible when a 4.2km waterway at Punggol is completed.

Besides viewing sunrises and sunsets, visitors to the more than $25 million waterway, called My Waterway@Punggol, will be able to kayak or canoe as well as dine alfresco.

Four footbridges will provide access to both banks of the promenade. Two of them will be prime spots to enjoy sunrise and sunset views.

Construction of the waterway is underway on an empty field in Punggol that is parallel to Punggol Drive. The waterway is being built by damming two rivers at the east and west of Punggol, the Sungei Serangoon and Sungei Punggol, to form two reservoirs to meet Singapore’s increasing water needs.

When completed, the waterway will link the two reservoirs to transfer water from one to the other.

Mr Alan Tan, principal architect and a deputy managing director at the Housing Board (HDB), which is in charge of the project, says that together with national water agency PUB, they saw that the waterway could ‘complement the housing parcel for waterfront living’.

In May 2008, a landscape masterplan competition for the waterway was announced.

Local firm Surbana International Consultants and its Japanese partner Sen Inc were named winners in December that year.

The winning proposal not only showcased what could be done along the waterway, but also featured four distinctive footbridges that were both functional and reflective of the surroundings and Punggol’s history.

‘We want to give visitors an experiential journey from one end of the waterway to the other,’ says Mr Tan.

Surbana’s senior architectural associate Bonita Tan says the bridges are about 1km apart, helping give easy access to both sides of the 20m- to 60m-wide, and 4m-deep, waterway.

She adds that the two footbridges where the waterway meets the two rivers are designed to project out into the rivers, so visitors can fully enjoy the views of the sun rising and setting.

Another bridge, which resembles stilts on water, has been nicknamed the ‘kelong’ bridge.

‘We wanted to bring home the idea of old Punggol,’ says Ms Tan.

Back in the early days, Punggol was a fishing village and there were many kelongs that dotted the area. ‘Walking on this bridge gives the experience of walking on water, like on a kelong,’ she adds.

The last bridge, which will lead to a future commercial centre, has a more modern look. ‘But it will have an undulating form that reflects the nature of the landscape,’ says Ms Tan.

To make the bridges blend in with the surroundings, she says materials such as composite timber and steel, which will be painted for a more rustic look, will be used.

‘There will also be plenty of greenery on the bridges,’ she adds.

The team is also working on creating a heritage trail along the waterway to remind visitors of Punggol’s transformation.

For example, photographs of Punggol during its early days will be put up along the waterway.

On a 280m-long wall at Punggol town centre, there will be panels depicting the old Punggol.

‘It could be motifs of fishing villages, or even chilli crab, since the dish is well-known here,’ suggests Mr Tan.

My Waterway @ Punggol is the first of its kind to be built in Singapore. It is part of the transformation plan to turn Punggol into a waterfront town.

Catching the sunset at Punggol

Plans for Punggol’s makeover were first announced in 1996, by then Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong. But the Asian financial crisis halted the town’s development.

Developments have accelerated in the last two years since Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong offered a new vision for it in his 2007 National Day Rally Speech.

Today, the town has a population of about 53,600 and this is projected to grow to 70,000 by next year.

The Government aims to build an extra 21,000 homes along the waterway, comprising 60 per cent HDB flats and 40 per cent private homes.

Last November, the HDB unveiled the winning design for the first batch of flats that will line the waterway.

Designed by international architectural firm Group8asia and local firm Aedas, there will be 1,200 flats featuring sky terraces, roof gardens and panoramic views of the Punggol Waterway.

The HDB hopes to offer these flats for sale this year and residents are expected to get their flats by 2014 or 2015.

While Punggol resident Tan Bee Bee, 24, is not living near the waterway, she is excited about it. The tertiary student lives a five-minute drive away.

‘I can imagine it will be so scenic then and I won’t have to travel to East Coast Park to view the sunset,’ she says.

Source: Straits Times, 13 Mar 2010

DEVELOPERS continue to hunger for land. The Urban Redevelopment Authority has announced that a private housing site at Upper Changi Road North/Flora Drive, next to Edelweiss Park Condominium, has been triggered for release from the government’s reserve list.

An unnamed developer has agreed to bid at least $82 million or $177.37 per square foot of potential gross floor area.

The 99-year leasehold plot is next to the Japanese School (Primary) and a stone’s throw from Changi Prison. It is nestled amid several large condominiums developed by the Hong Leong Group over the years on a huge tract of land acquired mostly in the 1970s by the group. The most recent of these projects is The Gale, which was launched last year. Earlier releases include Azalea, Ballota, Carissa, Dahlia, Edelweiss and Ferraria Park condos.

Property consultants polled by BT estimate that the latest plot on offer could fetch top bids of $300-400 psf per plot ratio (psf ppr).

Knight Frank managing director (advisory services) Lydia Sng estimates that a $320-350 psf ppr land bid would translate to a breakeven cost of $580-600 psf and a target average selling price of about $730 psf for the 99-year leasehold project.

In the first two months of this year, units at the freehold Gale and Ferraria Park – the two most recent projects in the area – have changed hands at a median price of about $740 psf, according to caveat data, she notes. The Gale is under construction, while Ferraria Park was completed last year. There’s typically a 15 per cent price difference between freehold and 99-year properties.

DTZ’s South-east Asia research head Chua Chor Hoon reckons that the highest offers for the Flora Drive site will be around $300-350 psf ppr, and the average selling price for the project around $700-750 psf. ‘As it’s not close to any MRT station, the unit land price will be lower,’ she says. ‘The developer can target the mass-market segment, in which there is strong demand.’

Real estate lecturer Nicholas Mak says that the site could draw 6-10 bids, with the highest around $350-400 psf ppr.

Chesterton Suntec International head of research and consultancy Colin Tan suggests that developers may be ‘pretty aggressive’ with their bids.

Most developers have reported excellent results and are sitting on a pile of cash, Mr Tan notes. ‘If the market is hot, you’re running out of land and you need to bid aggressively to get some land, it’s better to do so at the earlier stage of the up-cycle. As time passes by and the market gets closer to the correction point, the risks get higher.’

URA said yesterday that following the triggering of the Flora Drive housing site, another 16 residential plots remain on the first half 2010 reserve list that can potentially be triggered for launch. These include three executive condo (EC) plots and two mixed-use sites where private homes can be built. The 16 land parcels can potentially generate a total of 6,770 private homes.

The H1 2010 confirmed list has eight residential sites that can yield 2,925 units. Of these, four plots have been launched – EC sites near Buangkok MRT Station and at Yishun Avenue 11, the Ten Mile Junction plot and a site at Tampines Ave 1/10 fronting Bedok Reservoir. Two choice sites – one near Lakeside MRT Station and Jurong Lake, and the other diagonally opposite Simei MRT Station – will be launched from the confirmed list before the month runs out.

This week, National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan said that the H2 2010 government land sales (GLS) programme will have a ‘larger supply and wider variety of sites’ on the reserve list to give developers more choice.

DTZ executive director Ong Choon Fah suggests that the H2 2010 GLS Programme may feature more private housing sites further from the city, even if they are near MRT stations, as well as plots near HDB estates such as Choa Chu Kang, Yishun, Sengkang and Simei, where there is strong upgrader demand.

Such sites will hopefully sell at a lower unit land price and translate to more affordably-priced housing for end-buyers – compared with plum sites near MRT stations and closer to the city.

‘I think the affordable price range for private home buyers in the mass market is still $700-800 psf,’ Mrs Ong says.

In the meantime, developers are expected to continue triggering sites from the current H1 reserve list. ‘Developers need to replenish their landbanks and there’s a lot of choice now. So if they like something, why wait?’ says DTZ’s Ms Chua.

Source: Business Times, 13 Mar 2010

A FLASHY new wing that jazzed up Northpoint Shopping Centre has also helped attract an additional 800,000 visitors a month through the mall’s doors.

The $38.6 million revamp has also enlarged the mall by over 50 per cent and brought the total space available for rent to 235,000 sq ft. The number of shops has shot up from 90 to 168.

‘This has brought in a 10.7 per cent return on investment’, said Dr Chew Tuan Chiong, chief executive of mall manager Frasers Centrepoint Asset Management.

Rents at the mall on Yishun Avenue 2 have increased by 20 per cent to $13.20 per sq ft a month, said Frasers Centrepoint Trust, the owner.

‘But this is not necessarily (achieved) by increasing the rent of individual shops, but by being able to produce more… high quality space on the ground level, which (commands) higher rental yields,’ said Dr Chew, who was speaking at the mall’s launch yesterday.

He gave the example of how gross floor area from the fourth storey was transferred to a busier 24-hour walkway which links pedestrians from Yishun MRT station to the bus interchange.

The mall, which enjoys a nearly full occupancy rate, is well placed to serve about 410,000 residents in the Yishun area, said Frasers Centrepoint Trust.

The Trust’s $1.4 billion portfolio comprises four malls – Causeway Point, Northpoint, Anchorpoint at Alexandra Road and newly acquired YewTee Point.

Frasers Centrepoint Trust has already revamped Anchorpoint and now that Northpoint has been completed, its attention will turn to Causeway Point on Woodlands Square.

Other suburban malls have also had similar makeovers in recent years as owners spruce them up to stay competitive and fend off the lure of the glitzy Orchard Road retail palaces.

IMM at Jurong East, Lot One at Choa Chu Kang and Sembawang Shopping Centre – all owned by CapitaMall Trust – have made major revamps. CapitaMall Trust is now eyeing the upgrading of Jurong Entertainment Centre.

Dr Chew added yesterday that he is bullish on the retail sector. ‘Economic growth…is quite positive and consumer spending is linked to economic growth… We anticipate a rise in shopper traffic.’

Source: Straits Times, 13 Mar 2010

CONSTRUCTION has been a flourishing industry right from the earliest days of modern Singapore.

Pioneering building contractors in the 19th century included Lim Loh, who built the Victoria Memorial Hall and the old Parliament House, and Naraina Pillai, the man behind Sri Mariamman Temple, the first Hindu temple here.

Immigrant labourers who assembled this city, brick by brick, included Indian convicts brought over by the British, and samsui women from China with their red roof-like headdresses.

One milestone for the construction industry in colonial Singapore was the setting up of the Singapore Improvement Trust (SIT) in 1927 to build low-cost housing.

Another milestone was the formation of the Singapore Chinese Contractors Association in 1937 to improve work relations among local contractors and ensure regular supplies of building materials. After World War II, the association changed its name to the Singapore Contractors Association to reflect its multiracial membership, and today it is known as the Singapore Contractors Association Limited.

By 1960, there were 400 contracting firms here employing 4 per cent of the total workforce, according to National University of Singapore building professor George Ofori’s book, Managing Construction Industry Development.

The 1960s saw the start of a building boom as Singapore began rapid urbanisation under the People’s Action Party government.

The Housing Board was formed in 1960 to replace SIT. In five years, the HDB built 50,000 homes, more than double that ever built by its predecessor.

To achieve this, then HDB chairman Lim Kim San broke the hold of contractors’ cartels and their price-fixing by allowing anyone to tender.

HDB also adopted standardised specifications and construction methods – still its modus operandi today – to make the flats easier to design and faster to build.

The 1970s was the decade of major civil engineering and high-rise projects like the Benjamin Sheares Bridge, DBS Building and the first passenger terminal at Changi Airport.

The industry here saw an influx of large foreign construction firms, mainly Japanese. They employed or worked with Singapore contractors on these projects.

As some Singapore firms expanded and grew in the 1980s, they formed major joint ventures and partnerships with international firms. Key projects included highways, port development and the building of the Mass Rapid Transit.

The Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB), a statutory board, was set up in 1984 – a time when the industry was becoming increasingly overheated and reliant on transient, low-skilled foreign labour. CIDB launched schemes to upgrade workers’ skills and develop the capabilities of construction firms.

The 1990s were growth years, with construction demand peaking at close to $25 billion in 1997, just before the effects of the Asian financial crisis were felt.

The resulting building slump led to the Construction 21 review of the industry in 1999, which sought to raise productivity, reduce the dependence on foreign workers, and improve on-site safety.

In 1999, the CIDB was merged with the regulatory body at the time, the former Public Works Department’s Building Control Division, to form the Building and Construction Authority (BCA).

The BCA both regulates and develops the construction industry.

The last few years have seen a renewed wave of soaring growth, led by a spike in private sector demand, with the two integrated resorts and a bumper crop of residential and commercial projects.

Construction gross domestic product (GDP) saw double-digit increases between 2007 and last year. A high of $34.6 billion worth of contracts was awarded in 2008.

Construction demand for this year is projected by BCA at between $21 billion and $27 billion. The bulk of the demand is expected to come from the public sector.

The construction industry today remains a major engine of economic growth. It contributes about 6 per cent of Singapore’s GDP, and employs 360,000 people, or roughly 12.2 per cent of the workforce.

Source: Straits Times, 13 Mar 2010

WORKS on a lift upgrading project in Eunos that had been delayed for about 10 months restarted yesterday.

Progress was made at a meeting on Thursday when the Housing Board agreed to 10 out of 15 requests from unhappy residents.

The home owners in Blocks 411, 415 and 417 in Eunos Road 5 had protested that new lift shafts already built blocked light and ventilation to their flats.

The HDB, which stopped work in the middle of last year to attend to the grievances, agreed to modify the external lift shafts and install extra lighting and ventilation fins.

It did not agree to some other requests, such as replacing residents’ windows with new slide and casement windows, and installing full-floor tiles and false ceilings for the lift lobbies.

Most of the dissenters said they wanted the project to move on.

One of them, Block 415 resident Lee Wong Mun, 61, a retired technical adviser, said: ‘I think the lift (works) should go on, then the rest – the minor things – we can thrash out later.

‘Some residents have problems climbing up stairs, especially the older ones.’

Altogether, 14 units out of 116 in each of the three U-shaped blocks had been affected by the new lifts, and some home owners had wanted them torn down.

HDB is picking up the tab for the 10 measures it is now extending, which will come up to $780,000.

The requests were gathered through a work group formed in January, comprising some unhappy residents as well as representatives from the residents’ committee, town council and the HDB.

Another affected resident, Madam Shamshiyati Sayas, 54, an operations assistant who lives in Block 417, said she was not totally happy with the package but wanted a closure. ‘What to do? You cannot turn back the clock.’

She said the unfinished works and construction site were an eyesore and could not be left indefinitely.

But others were unhappy that not all requests were granted.

Retiree Eng Ah Hee, 63, a resident in Block 417, said he did not accept HDB’s reasons: ”Non-standard’ and ‘norms’ are not good enough.’

But the HDB said it had agreed only to items that had an impact on the primary concerns of the light, view and ventilation being blocked.

Responding, Dr Ong Seh Hong, the MP for the precinct, said he felt HDB’s solutions were reasonable.

He noted that some of the works not granted were also not part of lift upgrading programmes in other areas, and that HDB had to be prudent with public funds.

‘I think there must be a line drawn. Those that are for mitigating (the problem) have been agreed to,’ he said.

With works resuming, the entire project – which was supposed to have been completed this year – will now be completed by the second quarter of next year.

Yesterday, an HDB spokesman said: ‘This will be the final package of goodwill and mitigation measures that HDB will be able to provide to affected residents.

‘HDB cannot continue to engage in discussions to improve the package, as works have been delayed by 10 months. It is also not fair to the majority of residents who are waiting for the lift upgrading works to be completed.’

One of them is Block 417 resident Goh Tee Juan, a 59-year-old plumber living on a non-lift landing floor, who said in Mandarin, ‘Of course, I hope for the lifts to be operational. They will be more convenient.’

But he said he could empathise with the predicament of the home owners who were getting less light and air.

Source: Straits Times, 13 Mar 2010

FRASERS Centrepoint Trust’s (FCT) Northpoint mall has seen a 20 per cent hike in average rentals and a 70 per cent climb in shopper traffic after it was expanded and revamped.

The mall, which is located right next to Yishun MRT station, increased its net lettable area by more than 50 per cent with the addition of a $165 million new wing and a $38.6 million asset enhancement initiative. The new NLA is 235,000 sq ft, up from 149,200 sq ft.

With all the changes, the number of shoppers who visit the mall every month has jumped to 2.4 million, from 1.4-1.6 million three-and-a-half years ago, said Wendy Low, general manager of Frasers Centrepoint Malls. She was speaking to reporters at the ‘new’ Northpoint’s official opening ceremony yesterday.

The average rental fetched by the landlord has also gone up by about 20 per cent on a per square foot (psf) basis. Rents are understood to be in the region of $12-14 psf. ‘The enhancement is part of FCT’s strategic initiative in unlocking values in existing assets,’ said Mrs Low.

From 90 shops previously, Northpoint has almost doubled the number of shops to 168. Occupancy stands at close to 100 per cent.

Next in line for asset enhancement is Causeway Point at Woodlands. Work at the 419,000 sq ft mall could begin sometime later this year. The $710 million Causeway Point is the largest mall in FCT’s portfolio and draws the most visitors on a yearly basis.

FCT, which is part of the Fraser and Neave group, listed in 2006 with three malls in its portfolio – Causeway Point, Northpoint and Anchorpoint.

Earlier this year, it bought another two properties – the newly built extension to Northpoint and YewTee Point in Choa Chu Kang – for $290 million from parent company Frasers Centrepoint, the property arm of Fraser and Neave.

FCT shares lost one cent to close at $1.34 yesterday.

Source: Business Times, 13 Mar 2010

WITH the American real estate market still depressed due to the tight control on credit, and the economy in Asia on the up, real estate brokers are setting their sights on property investors in the Far East. Investors from China and India have apparently leapfrogged their way up the list of foreign buyers lately, overtaking Europeans who have stepped on the brakes, say property brokers.

Now is the time, they add, to pick up iconic properties in New York that would never have been put on the market before. Indications are that prices have bottomed out, with transaction prices picking up since the third quarter of 2009.

‘Buyers from China and India are now looking for one-of-a-kind trophy properties in New York City,’ notes Raphael De Niro, who heads a real estate division at Prudential Douglas Elliman. Celebrity watchers may want to note that he is also the son of actor Robert De Niro.

‘Sales volume has gone up since the third quarter of last year, while prices are still about 20 to 25 per cent below their peaks in 2007 and 2008,’ he adds. This combination has created a lot of demand – especially internationally, says Mr De Niro, speaking to BT Weekend in a telephone interview. ‘Coupled with the very weak dollar, this is making buying real estate attractive.’

The luxury market now ranges from US$1,300 per square foot up to US$5,000 psf, for apartments sized anywhere from 400 sq ft to condominiums, townhouses and even historic mansions.

New York City’s real estate will always have its appeal, notes Mr De Niro. ‘This is one of the most important international cities in the world, very similar to London which is the gateway to Europe. NYC is the gateway to North America and South America where you have rising cities like Brazil.’

A big plus for the New York real estate market is the website Streeteasy.com (www.streeteasy.com) which was launched in 2006. It’s an online listing service that compiles data on the New York real estate market from the perspective of the consumer.

‘Before that, New York was the least transparent city among all cities in the US,’ says Dawn Doherty, Streeteasy’s vice-president of strategic development.

She’s seen an ‘amazing’ number of visits to the site, especially from the Far East. ‘Visits from Japan have doubled, while Hong Kong has tripled,’ she says. ‘People know this city has such real estate value.’

Ms Doherty says the market is still very vibrant, judging by the activity on the site. ‘People are interested to see where this market is going; and the property market here is a free market system – but the problem with the situation in the US is that people are tied in terms of moving forward or up.’

‘There’s a lot of foreign interest these days,’ affirms Paula Del Nunzio, a broker with Brown Harris Stevens who is marketing a historic mansion on Fifth Avenue. The Duke Semans Mansion was built 108 years ago, and is a ‘most important example of Beaux-Arts residential architecture in the city’ – with sides on both East 82 Street and Fifth Ave. Asking price: US$50 million.

The building has only been sold one other time, in 2006, for US$40 million. Buyers will have to judge whether the 20,000 sq ft mansion – which has a doctor’s office in the basement, a five-storey main residence, a penthouse duplex on top, 12 bedrooms, 14 bathrooms, and 11 wood-burning fireplaces – is worth the extra US$10 million mark-up.

Ms Del Nunzio points out however, that another property nearby that’s not as historic nor as well-appointed is listed at US$53 million, and has been bought and sold multiple times.

Foreign investors would be best off buying townhouses and newly built condominiums, and those make up about 20 to 30 per cent of the property market in New York City, says Mr De Niro.

New York City, however, is notorious for its housing co-operatives which make up more than 70 per cent of Manhattan’s private housing stock. Buyers don’t actually own a flat; but shares in a property which entitle them to live in a designated apartment.

But co-op boards can be choosy about their tenants. Even celebrities – singer Carly Simon, actor Michael Douglas, fashion designer Calvin Klein and Madonna – have had their bids rejected in the past. In the 1970s, the disgraced President Richard Nixon had to buy a townhouse as he was deemed undesirable by a co-op. Co-op boards can reject you for any reason – from your clothes to your job, and even more so if you’re going to be an absentee apartment owner.

But that was before the 2008 economic meltdown. These days, co-ops which once would have been less approving of foreign ownership have eased up, reckons Mr De Niro. It’s still not easy to get local loans but otherwise, the barriers have also been lowered for foreign ownership because property laws have eased up a lot, he adds.

Even so, buying direct from developers or private townhouses will be the path of least resistance. Mr De Niro has a US$25 million three-storey penthouse on his ‘for sale’ portfolio.

The 6,400 sq ft Clock Tower penthouse on One Main in Dumbo (which stands for Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass) is on the market for US$25 million – reportedly more than twice the highest price ever paid for a home in Brooklyn, which has always been a lower-cost alternative to Manhattan.

The attractions of the penthouse include 16-foot high ceilings, a central glass elevator and a ‘floating’ staircase with views of Lower Manhattan, the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges, and New York Harbour. Oh, and the key to its name: four 15-foot-diameter clock faces as glass windows in each direction on the first level.

‘It’s the first time this unit is on the market, as the crown jewel of a successful condominium project. It was a restoration of a converted office building,’ explains Mr De Niro. The sale is from the developer.

If you’re looking for something slightly less pricey, properties on the Upper East Side can be had for a little over US$10 million. A 5,400 sq ft, five-storey, single-family townhouse with a handsome brick facade – renovated, seven bedrooms, numerous fireplaces, 12 foot high ceilings, and a sweeping staircase – is listed for US$13.95 million.

Linda Melnick, senior vice-president at Stribling associates says she’s seeing foreign interest in high end properties increase by five to seven per cent. ‘The market has stabilised now, and New York real estate is the best place to put your money,’ she says in an email interview. But with the number of transactions going up, she’s also seen prices rise.

So could the window for property investment in New York quickly getting smaller? ‘Stacked up with other cities, it’s still a good window in New York City,’ says Mr De Niro. And some would say, just having an address in New York has a priceless appeal all its own.

Source: Business Times, 13 Mar 2010