Artist’s impression of Watten House, a 180-unit residential project UOL is developing in the upscale … [+]
UOL Group and its unit Singapore Land—both controlled by banking and real estate billionaire Wee Cho Yaw—sold more than half of its residential project during a private preview on Saturday in the upscale Bukit Timah enclave in the western central region of the city-state, adding to signs of resilient housing demand in the country.
The partners sold 102 apartment units, or 57% of the 180-unit Watten House residential project, at an average price of S$3,230 per square foot ($2,406). “This luxury development is an exceptional freehold project with a prestigious address, and we have developed this sprawling 5-acre site into a low density 180-unit development with high density greenery,” UOL Group chief executive Liam Wee Sin said in a statement.
Nestled in the lush greenery of Bukit Timah, the duo bought the land for S$550 million in 2021 in a hotly contested bidding for the Watten Estate Condominium, which is being redeveloped into the Watten House, comprised of eight five-story blocks spread across a land area of 20,461 square meters. The property is is located in a neighborhood of predominantly upscale bungalows near amenities and popular schools such as Hwa Chong Institution and Raffles Girls Primary School.
The robust sales of Watten House comes as private home prices in the Lion City continue to increase to record highs, even after the government’s cooling measures to temper property values, which have risen about 3.9% so far this year after rising 8.6% in 2022.
To tap into Singapore’s resilient housing demand, UOL has been aggressively snapping up development plots in the city. In February, the company and SingLand bought the Meyer Park condominium in the eastern suburb of Katong for S$392.2 million for redevelopment. The duo also tied up with CapitaLand in June to buy a 50,680-square-meter state land site in Tampines, also in the east, for S$1.2 billion.
One of Singapore’s biggest property developers, UOL is controlled by veteran banker Wee Cho Yaw, 94, chairman emeritus of United Overseas Bank, the nation’s third-largest bank by assets. The lender was founded by his father Wee Khiang Cheng in 1935 as United Chinese Bank. With a net worth of $7.1 billion, Wee ranked No. 8 on the list of Singapore’s 50 Richest that was published in September last year.
Prospective buyers at the private preview of UOL’s Watten House project in Singapore.