By Andrew Batt:
Singapore sales start this weekend for Battersea Power Station, the much-anticipated and equally hyped mixed-use development on the banks of the River Thames in London.
The development has already seen sales of more than 600 of the 800 units that form the Circus West first phase development.
Andrew Batt, PropertyGuru’s International Group Editor, spoke exclusively to Rob Tincknell (pictured), the Chief Executive Officer of the developers behind the project, to discover why buyers from Southeast Asia have been buying at Battersea Power Station in big numbers.
Tincknell, who arrived in Singapore earlier this week fresh from last weekend’s Asia launch in Kuala Lumpur, revealed that roughly half of sales by value to date can be attributed to buyers from Asia. The project officially opened for sales in London a few days earlier with a queue forming three hours before sales started. That’s a rare sight indeed for a London new-build property – and arguably underlines the importance of this particular development.
With so many London developers choosing to launch in Asia, was that ever something that Battersea Power Station was considering, especially given the fact that the consortium behind the development company included Malaysian developers SP Setia and Sime Darby, as well as the Malaysian Employees Provident Fund?
“Our initial thoughts were that we would launch in Southeast Asia first,” admitted Tincknell. “But we chose to launch in London first and I know the London market respected that decision.”
The interest to date has been “overwhelming” ahead of this weekend’s exhibition at St Regis Hotel in Singapore, and for a similar event in Hong Kong next week.
Buyers have needed little education about the iconic and historic status of Battersea Power Station, according to Tincknell.
“They also understand that London has a requirement for 43,000 new homes to just meet current demand. There’s not a lot of development happening; London is way behind the curve.”
Rental returns are the reason why many Asian buyers are looking at London.
“Rental is a growing market in London. About 20 percent of the market is rental and that’s massively lower than other European cities,” said Tincknell.
Battersea Power Station will be the anchor of the new Nine Elms development, and Tincknell was keen to show independent reports which highlight the potential for a possible three-digit growth in property prices in the area by 2026. The area remains one of the UK capital’s most promising areas for growth.
The recent Singapore cooling measures did not come as a total surprise to Tincknell.
He said: “They were quite aggressive, but property remains the most appealing investment and I expect Singaporeans to look more at other markets for their property investments.”
Meanwhile, Doris Tan, Head of Residential International Project Sales at Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) in Singapore, said: "JLL Singapore is indeed delighted and honoured to be part of this iconic launch in Singapore. In my 20 years of representing London’s developers, I have never had the opportunity to sell something as unique as an iconic development along River Thames and with so much history as Battersea Power Station."
Andrew Batt, International Group Editor of PropertyGuru, wrote this story. To contact him about this or other stories email andrew@propertyguru.com.sg
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