Penthouse at The Berth by the Cove changes hands for $1,021 psf
By Timothy Tay
/ EdgeProp |
A 2,939 sq ft, four-bedroom penthouse at The Berth by the Cove was recently sold for $3 million ($1,021 psf). Based on URA Realis caveats, the psf price is the lowest for a resale unit in the 200-unit project so far. The last time a unit changed hands for that psf price was in January 2007. It was for the sub-sale of a 2,056 sq ft, three-bedroom unit on the first level that changed hands for $2.1 million.
The 200-unit project was the first private condo to be launched in Sentosa Cove back in November 2004. Units were sold at an average of about $830 psf then. At the peak of the residential market from 4Q2007 to 1Q2008, units were changing hands at prices above $1,700 psf. Prices hit an all-time-high of $2,200 psf for a 1,905 sq ft, four-bedroom unit on the third level that changed hands for $4.19 million in November 2007.
The Berth by the Cove was the first condo in Sentosa Cove, Singapore’s premier waterfront development, and was launched in 2004 (Picture: Samuel Isaac Chua/EdgeProp Singapore)
“The challenge in Sentosa Cove is that there hasn’t been any major project launch to attract luxury property hunters,” says Steve Tay, senior associate VP at List Sotheby’s International Realty (List SIR). “Most of these buyers have, instead, been drawn to the new launches in the prime districts of 9 and 10 in the Orchard Road area.”
In fact, there hasn’t been a new launch of a luxury condo in Sentosa Cove in nearly a decade – not since 2010, when the 228-unit The Residences at W Sentosa Cove and the 151-unit Seascape were launched.
Unlike on the mainland, foreign and listed property developers at Sentosa Cove are exempt from the conditions of the qualifying certificate, which require them to complete the projects within five years and to sell out the units within two years of completion. Hence, most developers with projects in the residential enclave have been holding on to their unsold units for rent instead of selling them.
“However, properties in Sentosa Cove still have fundamental attributes to attract discerning buyers,” notes List SIR’s Tay. “There’s the waterfront lifestyle and the exclusivity that can’t be replicated on the mainland of Singapore.”
He anticipates that the development of the 1,000ha Greater Southern Waterfront in the future – following the relocation of the city ports in Tanjong Pagar and Pasir Panjang – could see future waterfront homes in the area hit the $3,000 psf threshold, says Tay.
After all, Wallich Residence at Tanjong Pagar Centre has already seen prices cross $4,000 psf, and set a new record in the CBD and Marina Bay area of $4,560 psf. This was for a 3,509 sq ft, four-bedroom penthouse on the 58th floor that went for $16 million last June.
“Indeed, there’s a growing price disparity between the high-end condos on the mainland and in Sentosa Cove,” says Benson Koh, managing partner of SRI.
In Tanjong Rhu, Singapore’s first waterfront residential enclave on the mainland – which took off in the mid-1990s – Pebble Bay was the first condo to be developed. The 510-unit, 99-year leasehold condo was completed in 1997. SRI’s Koh recently brokered the sale of a four-bedroom unit of 2,766 sq ft on the second level, right on the waterfront, for $4.67 million ($1,688 psf), although a caveat has yet to be lodged. “It’s a record price in Pebble Bay on a psf basis,” he says.
Pebble Bay was the first condo in Tanjong Rhu, the waterfront enclave on the mainland of Singapore, and was launched in the early 1990s (Picture: Albert Chua/EdgeProp Singapore)
The buyer is said to be a Singaporean, who upgraded from another waterfront condo in Tanjong Rhu. “The buyer wanted this unit because of its size, the unblocked waterfront view of the Singapore Sports Hub, which is more serene, and the relative exclusivity of that corner of Pebble Bay,” says Koh. “These big units are rarely available for sale as most owners cling on to them.”
Meanwhile, the previous owner of the four-bedroom penthouse at The Berth by the Cove had purchased the unit in 2005 for $2.33 million ($794 psf), when the project was first launched for sale. And he held it for almost 14 years before divesting it for $3 million end last month.
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