Residential redevelopment site at Sophia Road sold for S$33.588 million

Singapore – Knight Frank Singapore, as the exclusive marketing agent, is pleased to announce the sale of a residential redevelopment site at 132 Sophia Road for S$33.588 million.

The property, located on a hilltop enclave on Mount Sophia in prime district 9, was sold to Sin Thai Hin Development Pte Ltd in a tender exercise that closed on 29 November 2023. The sale price of S$33.588 million translates to a land rate of approximately S$1,172 per square foot per plot ratio (psf ppr), inclusive of a nominal land betterment charge.

The property has a land area of 1,280.5 square metres (sqm) or approximately 13,783 square feet (sq ft) and is zoned ‘Residential’ with a Gross Plot Ratio of 2.1 under the Master Plan 2019. The property was sold on a 103-year leasehold tenure.

Sophia Road is situated in an attractive location with Dhoby Ghaut Interchange MRT, Plaza Singapura, Wilkie Edge, and Parklane Shopping Mall within a short walking distance. St Margaret’s Primary School, a popular school, is right next the property while Anglo-Chinese School (Junior) is within one kilometre. In the vicinity are tertiary education institutions including School of the Arts (SOTA), Lasalle College of the Arts, Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA) city campus and Singapore Management University (SMU).

Ms Chia Mein Mein (谢敏敏), Head of Capital Markets (Land & Collective Sale), Knight Frank Singapore (主管, 房地产与集体销售, 资本市场部, 莱坊) commented, “We received keen interest for the property, which attracted parties looking for a boutique residential redevelopment site near Orchard Road targetting homebuyers seeking city living with a prime address, or families with children attending the nearby educational institutions.”

Ms Chia added, "This is the first residential non-landed redevelopment site in prime District 9 that has been sold since early 2021 when 10A and 10B Institution Hill were transacted.”

There were no residential collective sales sites sold in District 9 over the past few years, with the introduction of several rounds of cooling measures. Especially with the latest round introduced in April this year, that effectively discouraged most foreign homeowners from agreeing to any collective sale due to the prohibitive tax applied to their replacement cost.

The purchaser is a boutique developer and investment company who has developed and invested in properties in the healthcare, hospitality, residential and commercial office sectors. Mr Robin Ng, Chairman of Sin Thai Hin Holdings commented, “We are excited to emerge with the winning bid for 132 Sophia Road. This is a rare redevelopment site located in the prestigious Dhoby Ghaut precinct next to the Istana, where land has been tightly held. We plan to redevelop the site into a new-concept boutique residence that will be the crown jewel atop Mount Sophia alongside the popular Orchard shopping belt, and at the same time set apart from the teeming crowd.

As home prices in Singapore’s mass market locations reach new benchmarks and close in with home prices in prime locations, the Core Central Region (CCR) presents value opportunities with untapped potential for capital appreciation as the price gap narrows. Since the COVID-19 outbreak, overall private residential prices based on URA Price Index have risen 27.6% from Q4 2019 to 3Q 2023. This is driven by price growth of 38.9% in the Rest of Central Region (RCR) and 33.5% in the Outside Central Region (OCR), compared to 6.3% in the CCR over the same period.

The tender for 132 Sophia Road was launched on 2 November 2023 and closed on 29 November 2023.

For further information, please contact: 

Chia Mein Mein
Head of Capital Markets (Land & Collective Sale), Knight Frank Singapore
meinmein.chia@sg.knightfrank.com | +65 9117 4522 | +65 6228 6868

Lilian Hoe
Director, Marketing, Communications, Legal and Compliance, Knight Frank Singapore
lilian.hoe@sg.knightfrank.com | +65 6228 6807

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