By UMA SHANKARI

KEPPEL Land yesterday said that it has granted a six-month payment extension to a buyer who purchased 51 apartments in its 157-unit The Suites @ Central project.

The buyer purchased the units in an en bloc deal for an average price of $1,806 per sq ft under the deferred payment scheme (DPS) in June 2007 - at the height of the property market boom.

Keppel Land, which jointly developed The Suites @ Central with Chip Eng Seng, did not disclose the buyer's identity.

Upon the execution of sale-and-purchase agreements, the buyer paid 20 per cent of the purchase price, with the balance of $1,445 psf due after the project obtains its temporary occupation permit (TOP).

Units at the fully-sold The Suites @ Central have been progressively handed over to purchasers since TOP was obtained.

The buyer of the 51 units has since asked to extend the due date to arrange funds for payment. Keppel Land and Chip Eng Seng have agreed to a six-month extension that started yesterday.

But the extension is subject to the purchaser paying $500,000 a month during the extension period. The first payment of $500,000 has been received, Keppel Land said.

The Suites @ Central was developed by Devonshire Development, 60 per cent owned by Keppel Land and 40 per cent by CEL Development, the property arm of the Chip Eng Seng group.

Last month, it emerged that a China investor that bought 20 units in MCL Land's The Fernhill condo failed to pay about $30 million that was due when the project received its TOP.

As a result, MCL Land booked first-quarter profit from only five units in the 25-unit freehold project for which buyers have paid the outstanding balance by the due date.
The investor, Concordia Overseas, subsequently managed to re-sell 19 of the 20 units.

Market watchers have said that developers who sold projects on DPS at peak prices in 2007 and early 2008 may have reason to worry if buyers do not pay up as the projects are completed in the coming months.

Such developers may have to sue buyers to get them to complete the purchase at the contracted price, or agree to a payment extension.

This article was first published in The Business Times .