Sentosa Cove condo sold at 50% loss
Cushman & Wakefield data showed that resale property prices on the resort island fell to $1,367 per sq ft (psf) – a record low since luxury residential properties were first launched in Sentosa Cove in November 2004. The price is now $3.2 million below the original purchase price of $6.27 million in 2010.
The property cooling measures rolled out by the government in July 2018 has significantly affected property prices at Sentosa Cove, with a condominium unit at the island recently sold at a 50 percent loss.
Based on Urban Redevelopment Authority Realis data, the three-bedroom unit at Seascape was sold on 23 May for $3.1 million, or $3.2 million below the original purchase price of $6.27 million in 2010, reported Today Online.
Cushman & Wakefield data showed that resale property prices on the resort island fell to $1,367 per sq ft (psf) – a record low since luxury residential properties were first launched in Sentosa Cove in November 2004.
Two other non-landed properties on the island were also sold at a loss in May.
A 4,779 sq ft unit at The Coast at Sentosa Cove was sold for $6.52 million, down 3.8 percent from its original purchase price of $6.78 million in 2006.
A 1,302 sq ft unit at The Berth by the Cove was sold at $1.78 million, a 1.1 percent drop from its $1.8 million purchase price in 2007.
Analysts, however, noted that the new cooling measures are just one side of the story.
This comes as non-landed property prices at the resort island have been on the downtrend since 2011, way before the new cooling measures were introduced last year.
When private property prices in Singapore rebounded following a four-year slump and rose 9.1 percent from 2017 and 2018, non-landed properties in Sentosa only posted a slight uptick of 0.8 percent in 2017 and 1.6 percent in 2018.
Other factors that could have contributed to the drop in home prices at the island were rising interest rates, earlier cooling measures and stricter credit controls in China, they said.
But with home prices now similar to some new condo projects targeted at the mass market on the mainland, buyers may realise that Sentosa Cove properties could still hold value on the long term.
In fact, Knight Frank senior director Lee Nai Jia is already seeing more interest for Sentosa Cove properties over the past month.
According to him, the city-state is still considered as a safe haven compared to other luxury property markets within the region, and that may attract investors keen on wealth preservation.
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Fiona Ho, Digital Content Manager at PropertyGuru, edited this story. To contact her about this or other stories, email fiona@propertyguru.com.sg
