Kenny's Take
Two very different signals today, and both point the same way: patience pays in this market. Union Square Residences crossing the halfway mark on its 366 units 21 months after launch — without a splashy relaunch, just a steady stream of buyers comparing individual layouts — is what well-absorbed District 1 stock actually looks like once the initial rush fades. On the investment side, One Raffles Place's near-$2.4 billion price tag lining up close to its $2.37 billion end-2025 book value tells CBD office watchers this isn't a discount hunt — it's capital paying full value for scarcity in a market where Grade A vacancy is already at a multi-year low. If you're weighing a Clarke Quay unit against a newer District 1 launch, Union Square's current pricing and remaining stack mix are your working comp. And if you're an investor eyeing commercial exposure, treat this deal, if it signs, as confirmation the CBD window is still open, not a warning sign.
🏙️ Union Square Residences Crosses The Halfway Mark
- Union Square Residences, City Developments Limited's 366-unit, 40-storey mixed-use tower at 28 Havelock Road in Clarke Quay, has sold roughly half its units in the 21 months since its November 2024 launch, with transacted prices averaging around $3,200 psf.
- This week's feature on the project zeroed in on two of its more distinctive stacks — the 4-bedroom units with private lift access and a dumbbell layout separating the junior master from the other three bedrooms, and the 3-bedroom units built around a dry kitchen. That kind of layout-level marketing typically shows up once a launch has moved past its initial wave and is selling to buyers comparing specific configurations rather than the project as a whole.
🏢 One Raffles Place's Price Tag Lines Up With Its Book Value
- CapitaLand Investment and IOI Properties Group remain in advanced, unsigned talks to jointly acquire One Raffles Place for close to $2.4 billion — a figure that lines up closely with the $2.37 billion valuation the asset carried at end-2025, based on OUE REIT's stake in the complex.
- The read for investor clients: this prices in the CBD's current 5.6% Grade A office vacancy — the tightest since Q3 2022 — rather than offering a discount entry. Sellers OUE REIT, UOL Group and Khattar Holdings are said to be in exit talks, with United Overseas Bank expected to retain its space as a tenant regardless of outcome.
🏦 Financing & Rates
- 3M SORA holds at 1.12%, 1M SORA at 1.08%–1.10% — no new print since 7 Aug; floating-rate home loans continue pricing around 1.9% p.a. all-in.
🔭 What I'm watching
- Whether the CapitaLand–IOI One Raffles Place talks convert into a signed agreement, and at what final number against the $2.4 billion figure now circulating.
- How Union Square Residences' remaining stack mix moves as District 1 buyers weigh it against newer Clarke Quay-adjacent launches heading into Q4.