Luxury condo prices hit record high in Q3
View of luxury apartments in Singapore.
The average price of resale luxury condos in Singapore reached a new record high of $2,063 psf in Q3 2018, likewise for new sales of high-end condos at $2,819 psf, according to a new report from OrangeTee & Tie.
The most expensive luxury home sold during the third quarter was a 438 sq m (4,714.6 sq ft) resale unit on the 17th floor of the Urban Resort Condominium that changed hands for $13.9 million, which works out to $2,948 psf.
Read our Step-by-Step Guide to buying a condo
This was followed by a 273 sq m (2,938.5 sq ft) unit at Bishopsgate Residences for $11.5 million ($3,913 psf). Two luxury condos were also snapped up for $11 million each – a 290 sq m (3,121.5 sq ft) unit on the 16th floor of Twentyone Angullia Park and a 285 sq m (3,067.7 sq ft) unit on the13th level of 336 River Valley, which were sold for $3,524 psf and $3,586 psf respectively.
However, sales of upscale condos in the Core Central Region (CCR) plunged by 40.5 percent to 569 units on a quarterly basis in Q3. Nonetheless, transactions of non-landed homes costing at least $3 million remained robust at 187 units, surpassing the five-year average of 173 units from Q3 2013 to Q2 2018. Figures exclude bulk purchases involving more than five units per deal.
“The steady demand for luxury demand homes above $3 million suggests that Singapore remains a top investment destination among high net-worth individuals (HNWI) and affluent foreigners,” said OrangeTee & Tie’s research head Christine Sun.
In particular, 62 luxury condos priced at $5 million or above were transacted in Q3. There were also seven sales of high-end condos costing at least $10 million, of which six occurred after the latest property cooling measures were imposed on 6 July.
Meanwhile, the property consultancy noted that despite the new curbs, foreigners and permanent residents (PRs) accounted for 6.1 percent and 15 percent of non-landed home sales here respectively versus 5.6 percent and 13.6 percent in the second quarter.
Mainland Chinese remained the top foreign buyers of non-landed homes in Q3, followed by Malaysians and Indonesians. In particular, 63.1 percent of mainland Chinese, 71.2 percent of Indians and 82.4 percent of Malaysians purchased units costing under $1.5 million.
“48.7 percent of Indonesians, 42.1 percent of Koreans and 42.9 percent of Taiwanese bought private homes above $2 million. 15.4 percent of buyers from Australia and the UK, 13.3 percent of those from the US and 11.5 percent from Indonesia bought luxury homes at $4 million and above.”
“The ongoing US-China trade war may have spurred some Mainland Chinese to park their monies here to hedge against the devaluation of the yuan. Indonesians may have also transferred their funds to Singapore as a hedge against further depreciation of the rupiah,” noted OrangeTee & Tie.
Estimate your maximum property affordability with our Affordability Calculator
Romesh Navaratnarajah, Senior Editor at PropertyGuru, edited this story. To contact him about this or other stories, email romesh@propertyguru.com.sg
