The price is also the highest in the current so-called en-bloc cycle, and only surpassed by the S$1.3 billion sales of Farrer Court, according to CBRE, which brokered the transaction. The price for the 290-unit development works out to S$1,987 per square foot, based on the amount of space the buyer is able to rebuild.

The transaction signals demand from developers for older residential sites for redevelopment even as Singapore increased the buyer’s tax on homes exceeding S$1 million last month.

Collective apartment sales for redevelopment in the first two months of 2018 totalled more than S$3.1 billion, almost double the S$1.66 billion seen in the same period during the last en-bloc market peak in 2007, Nomura analyst Min Chow Sai wrote in a note dated Feb 19.

“It means the market is still very active and looking for opportunities,” Galven Tan, director of capital markets at CBRE, said in a phone interview, adding that there are few developments in the pipeline for the real estate consulting firm on such en-bloc sales.

GuocoLand shares jumped 1.9% to S$2.11 as of 10.55am Singapore time, the biggest gain in a month. The stock has fallen 5.8% this year.

Quek, a Malaysian tycoon, controls Singapore’s GuocoLand through his holding company, Hong Leong Co Malaysia Bhd. GuocoLand will have 40% of the joint venture to buy the Pacific Mansion site, while two companies partly owned by Quek and his Singapore cousin, billionaire Kwek Leng Beng, will hold the remaining stakes.