Tender for Horizon Towers closes without a single bid

Romesh Navaratnarajah13 Sep 2018

Horizon Towers en bloc crop

Horizon Towers is located near Orchard Road and is also close to the upcoming Great World MRT station. (Photo: JLL)

Despite its prime location, Horizon Towers’ $1.1 billion tender ended on Wednesday (12 Sept) with no takers, reported the Business Times.

This gives the owners of the 211-unit development 10 weeks to seal a deal by private treaty.

More: Horizon Towers Extends Tender Closing Date Following New Curbs

Nestled on a 1.9ha plot at Leonie Hill Road, the 99-year leasehold project was launched for tender on 5 July – the same date when the government unveiled its latest property cooling measures, which took effect the following day.

In a letter to owners, marketing agent JLL said the lawyers, collective sale committee (CSC) and itself would look at the possibility of another public tender by early-2019, if no buyer is found after the private treaty period’s expiry on 20 November.

“We have up to March 2019 at the latest to secure a sale contract,” it said, while noting that owners have until 21 May next year to conclude a sale and apply to the Strata Titles Board (STB) for a sale order.

“While there are interested parties … these parties have been holding back their land acquisitions and are continuing to observe and reassess the market as a result of the latest round of residential market cooling measures introduced two months ago.”

JLL added that although sales volume will continue to be affected in the short term, it expects the market “to regain its dynamism in due course given the still strong fundamentals and the demand-supply situation”.

The unsuccessful sale of the development puts on notice other billion-dollar collective sale hopefuls, which include the 623-unit Pandan Valley, which was launched for a record price of $2.6 billion, and Laguna Park, which is set for launch on 18 September with a price tag of $1.48 billion.

In 2009, Horizon Towers’ $500 million en bloc sale fell through after a dispute among the owners and the Court of Appeals ruled that the sale process was handled improperly.

More: Understanding The En Bloc Process (August 2018)

 

Romesh Navaratnarajah, Senior Editor at PropertyGuru, edited this story. To contact him about this or other stories, email romesh@propertyguru.com.sg

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