Koh Brothers Group, Heeton Holdings, KSH Holdings and Lian Beng Holdings forked out $243 million for Lincoln Lodge off Newton Road.

A group of four property and construction firms has paid a benchmark price for a site in Newton, betting that home prices in the area will surge over the next two years.

The consortium of Koh Brothers Group, Heeton Holdings, KSH Holdings and Lian Beng Holdings forked out $243 million for Lincoln Lodge off Newton Road.

Owners at the 98-unit estate will each get between $1.89 million and $3.07 million.

The consortium’s price works out to $1,449 per sq ft per plot ratio (psf ppr) for the 59,984 sq ft site - a record land price for the Newton area, said Newman & Goh, which marketed the estate.

The previous record was held by Gilstead View, which was sold for $1,070 psf ppr last month.

Newman & Goh’s head of investment sales, Mr Jeffrey Goh, believes that a new development on the Lincoln Lodge site could fetch $2,500 psf.

This bullish projection is ‘riding on the announcement of SC Global’s The Marq, which is targeted to fetch $4,000 psf’, he said.

SC Global said on Tuesday that its latest project at Paterson Hill in the prime Orchard Road area will be sold at average prices of $4,000 psf.

But although Newton homes are still considerably cheaper than those in Orchard, Mr Goh is confident that their prices are set to soar.

‘Already, we have heard that some upcoming launches in the Newton area will be priced above $2,000 psf,’ he told The Straits Times.

‘Going forward, 18 months down the road, it shouldn’t be a problem for a new project on the Lincoln Lodge site to fetch $2,500 psf, and maybe even up to $2,700 psf.’

The record for homes in the Newton area is believed to be held by Scotts HighPark. The project, at Scotts Road next to Newton MRT Station, has fetched slightly more than $2,000 psf for a handful of units.

But closer to Lincoln Lodge, which is on Khiang Guan Avenue near Goldhill Plaza, most newer condominiums sell for only between $1,100 psf and $1,450 psf.

Units at the neighbouring Newton Suites, for instance, have changed hands for an average of $1,300 psf in the past two months. Nearby, Park Infinia at Wee Nam is selling for $1,200 psf and above.

Lincoln Lodge’s break-even price is expected to be about $2,000 psf ppr, said Mr Goh.

A 36-storey project with 120 apartments of 1,600 sq ft each can be built on the site, said Koh Brothers yesterday.

The shares of all four partners, which own equal stakes in the project, rose yesterday.

Koh Brothers was up 1.5 cents at 55.5 cents; Heeton Holdings advanced 0.5 cent to 98.5 cents; KSH Holdings added four cents to 87 cents; and Lian Beng increased 2.5 cents to 44 cents.

Source: The Straits Times, 22 June 2007