Laguna Park crosses 80-per-cent threshold

THE market may have cooled, but en bloc fever is even higher than before at Laguna Park, as approval from owners at the 30-year-old condominium crossed the 80-per-cent threshold on Friday, allowing the en bloc sales process to proceed to the marketing stage.

Now the residents are optimistic the prime location of the 528-unit property will help them get their asking price of $1.2 billion, despite the current economic situation.

With schools such as Victoria Junior College nearby and a sea view, residents feel they’ll get a fair deal for their 99-year leasehold property which occupies a total land area of some 667,000 square feet. It has a plot ratio of 2.8.

But some are hoping to wait till the third quarter of next year to enter the market.

Mr Lee Kok Leong, a Laguna Park resident, said: “Now the market is soft and when you go in, you won’t get a good price. So we hope that it recovers then it will be okay … it may fetch a higher price because the land is big.”

The move to sell started early last year but hit a snag as some residents held back hoping the bull market would last. The process has been marked by acrimony and vandalism, with the chairman of the management committee being arrested in August on suspicion of gluing shut two residents’ apartment doors.

Residents currently expect $1.8 million to $2.3 million for their units, down from the over $3 million some were hoping for last year.

Most of the development’s units are between 1,500 and 1,700 square feet.

Last year, Singapore saw 104 successful en bloc sales but this year, this has slowed to just seven.

There remains a five-day cooling-off period for the residents to change their minds but many expect the sale to go through.