SINGAPORE — In what is the largest collective sale in more than a decade, Pacific Mansion has been sold for S$980 million — evidence that the current en bloc fever which has lasted more than a year still has legs, analysts said.

The 290-unit development along River Valley was sold to a consortium comprising Guocoland (Singapore), Intrepid Investments and Hong Realty. The deal, which was announced on Monday (March 19), outstripped the S$970m sale of Tampines Court inked last August, and is the biggest en bloc sale since Farrer Court was transacted at about S$1.3 billion in 2007.

The winning bid was 4.5 per cent higher than the development’s reserve price of S$938 million. The marketing agent CBRE said each residential unit owner will receive between S$3.26 million and S$3.48 million, while the owners of the two shop units there will get between S$2.2 million to S$4.5 million each.

The freehold 128,352 square feet site has a maximum allowable gross floor area (GFA) of 542,544 sq ft. Based on the maximum allowable GFA, the purchase price works out to S$1,806 per sq ft per plot ratio.

ZACD Group executive director Nicholas Mak said: “The en bloc fever is not dying down yet, even City Developments and Hong Leong Group are still on the hunt for quality land and they are the market leaders. This could encourage others to follow suit.”

Analysts whom TODAY spoke to noted that some developers have yet to jump on the bandwagon so far this year, and they are expected to do so.

Mr Ku Swee Yong, co-founder of online property information portal HugProperty, predicts that the collective sales frenzy should be “going strong” until at least the second half of the year, because there are developers like Far East Organisation and Wing Tai Holdings (which) have yet to make their moves.”

DBS analysts Derek Tan and Rachel Tan had said in a research note last month that there appeared to be “a bit of fatigue” in the en bloc market, citing the relatively low pricing of recent deals such as the S$728 million sale of Pearl Bank Apartments which met the owners’ reserve price.

They wrote: “The fact that most of the sites have also been awarded at reserve price levels, rather than a premium, may indicate that developers are turning more choosy in adding to their land bank and becoming more cautious in their pricing strategy.”

However, several big deals are in the works: Owners at Mandarin Gardens have set a reserve price of S$2.48 billion, while there is talk that an asking price of S$1.1 billion will be sought by owners at Sim Lim Square after they get the requisite 80 per cent consent.

Mr Chris Koh, director of property firm Chris International, said: “What’s happening now is that everybody is riding on the bandwagon. More owners are attempting to do a collective sale because of their ageing properties… (Developers) are being picky now and are willing to pay a premium for the better sites, which is why we are seeing such high prices.”

However, the analysts have mixed views on whether the Pacific Mansion price tag will be overtaken soon, as the developers will have to do their math for such mega deals.

Mr Ku noted that till this day, there are still unsold units at projects such as D’Leedon which was built on the former site of Farrer Court. But he added: “Developers are generally a bit more bullish when it comes to bidding for freehold properties in a good location… A higher selling price will definitely come to pass in the future, it is just a matter of time.”

Pointing to the potential deals for Sim Lim Square and Mandarin Gardens, Mr Mak said: “Records are made to be broken… There is a chance that we could see an enbloc sale transacted at a higher (price than) Pacific Mansion.”

Completed in 1976, Pacific Mansion comprises 288 apartments and two commercial units.