An artist’s impression of AMO Residences, a 372-unit high-rise residential project UOL is building … [+]
UOL Group Ltd.—controlled by banking and real estate billionaire Wee Cho Yaw—has sold almost all the units of a suburban high-rise residential condominium it launched over the weekend, adding to signs housing demand in Singapore remains robust despite soaring interest rates.
The company—in partnership with Wee’s Singapore Land and Kheng Leong Co.—sold over 98% of the 372 units at AMO Residence in Ang Mo Kio in central Singapore during the project’s weekend launch. “There is a strong underlying demand as it is the first major private residential project in the mature housing estate of Ang Mo Kio in more than eight years,” Anson Lim, general manager of residential marketing at UOL, said in a statement. The project, which is expected to be completed in 2026, is also near the MayFlower MRT station as well as popular schools, he added.
The project’s robust sales adds to signs pent-up demand for private housing in Singapore remains robust, with buyers undeterred by rising interest rates and mounting inflationary pressures that could tilt the global economy into another recession. Home prices climbed 3.5% in the second quarter, compared to the previous quarter, as sales increased 31% to almost 2,400 units during the period, government data released on Friday showed.
Prices for AMO Residences start at S$1.26 million ($908,000) for a two-bedroom unit, with the three-bedroom apartments selling for S$1.81, while the four-bedroom units are going for S$2.48 million and the five-bedroom units at S$2.85 million. The average selling price for the project—comprising two 25-story residential towers with unblocked views of the Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park—is about S$1,890 per square foot.
UOL has been actively marketing its residential projects despite the widespread disruptions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. In June this year, the company fully sold the 640-unit Clavon, which was launched in December 2020, in the western Singapore town of Clementi. The group’s Avenue South Residence near the Raffles Place central business district and The Watergardens at Canberra in northern Singapore are also enjoying brisk sales, it said.
One of Singapore’s biggest property developers, UOL is controlled by veteran banker Wee Cho Yaw, 93, 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 $6.8 billion, Wee ranked No. 9 on the list of Singapore’s 50 Richest that was published in August last year.