Category Archives: Luxury Property

Whopping $5m subsale loss for St Regis unit

A UNIT at St Regis Residences chalked up the biggest subsale loss in the first eight months of this year: a massive $5 million.

St Regis: The top loss-incurring unit, on the sixth floor, was sold in May for $7.98m. It had previously changed hands at almost $13m, at the market peak in July 2007.

But on the flip side, it was also a unit at the same 999-year leasehold development which raked in the biggest gain of $1.39 million. The fifth floor unit was transacted in July at $9.5 million – up from the $8.1 million original purchase price. The seller had bought the unit direct from the developer in June 2006.

The loss-incurring unit, on the sixth floor, was sold in May. The transacted price was $7.98 million, compared to the nearly $13 million at which the apartment previously changed hands in July 2007, during the peak of the luxury housing market.

Interestingly, the $7.98 million subsale price for the property in May is not far off the $8.16 million that the apartment had been originally sold by the project’s developer in June 2006.

Another St Regis apartment, this time on the 11th floor, was transacted at $7.8 million in June – $2.7 million lower than the $10.5 million the developer had sold the unit for in April 2007.

All three transactions were picked up in Savills Singapore’s analysis of URA Realis caveats as at Aug 28.

Overall, in percentage terms, the most profitable subsale transaction this year yielded a 103 per cent gain.

It involved the sale of a 34th level unit at Southbank, located at North Bridge Road, for $1.64 million ($1,250 per square foot). The transaction last month is nearly double the $807,600 or $615 psf that the developer sold the unit for in July 2006.

The largest percentage loss of 41 per cent accrued to the seller of a unit on the 55th level of The Sail @ Marina Bay. The unit sold for about $1.89 million or $1,600 psf in January – lower than the nearly $3.2 million or $2,700 psf it was previously transacted at in June 2007.

Source : Business Times – 22 Sep 2009

Orchard Road retail rents continue slide

But competition for limited availability drives up Q3 prime suburban rents 0.7%

PRIME Orchard Road rents fell 3 per cent quarter-on-quarter to $32.90 per square foot per month (psf pm) in Q3 2009, a new report from CB Richard Ellis (CBRE) shows.

This is in line with the 2.9 per cent quarter-on-quarter fall in prime Orchard Road rents seen in Q2.

However, in a reversal of the rental trend, prime suburban rents inched up 0.7 per cent quarter-on-quarter to average $28.50 psf pm in Q3 2009, driven by competition for limited availability. In view of this, CBRE now expects prime suburban rents to contract by 1-2 per cent this year, compared with its earlier estimate of a 2-3 per cent contraction.

By contrast, CBRE is maintaining its forecast for a 10-12 per cent decline in prime Orchard Road rents for the whole of this year. Including a further decline of not more than 5 per cent expected for next year, the eventual rental trough for prime Orchard Road retail space should not be less than the $30 psf pm-level, the firm said.

‘The last time Prime Orchard Road rents fell below $30 psf pm was from 1998 to mid-2000, when the effects of the Asian Financial Crisis were most felt,’ noted the property firm in its report. ‘Since the turn of the millennium, prime Orchard Road rents have shown a certain resilience. Even during the global electronics downturn and Sars in 2002/2003, these rents did not dip below $31.50 psf pm.’ Continue reading