Seventy-year-old retired hawker Chow Meng Cheng has just won a 1-bedroom condominium unit at Normanton Park after spending about S$3 on aloe vera gel and a digital voucher for nasi lemak on e-commerce platform Lazada. The condominium, valued at S$1m, is a giveaway co-sponsored by property agency PropNex.
To participate in the lucky draw, Lazada shoppers had to collect ‘Golden Keys’ by fulfilling tasks and playing an in-app game. Tasks include referring friends to the game Lazzie Star and buying the PropNex edition of Monopoly from the store. As shoppers collected more keys, their chances of winning the condominium increased.
The draw coincided with the 11.11 event this year, held on November 11 annually, a multi-billion dollar online shopping extravaganza from various e-commerce platforms like Lazada and Shopee.
According to published reports, Mr Chow sold fish noodle soup for over 30 years to support his family of five. After being introduced to the game by his daughter, he began to learn how to play the Lazzie Star game, which she was playing as well.
When Chow reached level 25 in the game, he had already won himself five Golden Keys. After spending just S$3.41 on aloe vera gel and a digital voucher for nasi lemak, Chow managed to collect the winning golden key in the game.
His prize, a 1-bedroom Normanton Park condominium unit, is still under development and is estimated to complete by early 2023. Developed by Kingsford Huray Development, it is a sprawling 99-year leasehold project of 1862 units on 661,005 sq ft of land. Its nearest MRT is Kent Ridge MRT.
A 1-bedroom unit at the luxurious condominium can be between 484-651 sq ft with an average psf price of S$1,900 today.
Chow admitted that he was surprised about his win, and initially thought it was a scam when contacted by the Lazada team. However, he’s been using e-commerce apps like Lazada since 2017 and has been making more online purchases of daily necessities since the pandemic began. As to what Chow would do with his win, that’s something only he and his family will decide.
If Chow is already an owner of a property, like an HDB flat or private property, he will be subjected to the Additional Buyers Stamp Duty (ABSD) if the Normanton Park condo is his 2nd property – which is 12% of the property value (for Singapore citizens) and 15% (for Singapore PRs). There will also be stamp duties to be paid. He can however apply for ABSD remission if he sells his 1st property within six months of Normanton Park getting its Temporary Occupancy Permit (TOP) or Certificate of Statutory Completion (CSC), whichever is earlier.
Giving away a condominium unit as a prize isn’t new at all. In fact, six months ago in May 2021, Hong Kong tycoons – organised under property developer Sino Group’s Ng Teng Fong Charitable Foundation and Chinese Estates Holdings Limited – offered one HK$10.8m (S$1.836m) flat in a lottery to get more people to take their COVID-19 vaccinations. When the lottery was announced, jab bookings shot through the roof.
The eventual winner of the Grand Central apartment in Cheung Sha Wan was a 35-year-old Hong Kong chef surnamed Lee. In an interview, Lee said: “When I first got notified about being the winner of the Phase 1 Lucky Draw, I was so excited and happy as I had never thought that I would have the luck to win the Grand Prize!”
Twenty other winners, which included a Filipina domestic helper, a French student (who was studying in Hong Kong), a manicurist, a medical practitioner and a pastry chef, also won themselves a credit card with a stored value of HK$100,000 (S$17,412) each.
That’s not all – there’s now a Phase 2 Lucky Draw which has been extended till 30 November 2021. There is a Grand Prize, which is also a brand new 468-sqft apartment at Grand Central in Kwun Tong, and an Elderly Prize, where 200 seniors aged 70 and above stand a chance to walk away with a pre-paid or credit card with a stored value of HK$10,000 (S$1,740) each.
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What are your thoughts on these condo giveaways? Let us know in the comments below or on our Facebook post.
If you found this article helpful, 99.co recommends Normanton Park condo: What you must know before its Jan 2021 launch and URA reveals why it issued Kingsford Huray sale licence for Normanton Park.
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