The Sail @ Marina Bay

Posts Tagged ‘Sail Marina Bay’

Property experts predict a continued uptrend in prime property prices as investors from China, India and Indonesia continue to add to their portfolio by buying high end properties in Singapore. According to Knight Frank’s residential division head Peter Ow, the opening of the Integrated Resorts (IR) at Marina Bay and Sentosa “will present more leasing opportunities for high-end residential properties and will help create new residential enclaves, strengthening the overall living experience of these new clusters.”

With transaction prices at The Sail @ Marina Bay already breaching S$3,000 psf and more high end residences like Marina Bay Suites being built, are the current property prices sustainable? Liam Bailey, Knight Frank’s head of residential research, points out that low interest costs have protected potentially distressed owners and reduced the supply of property for sale. Additionally, low savings interest rates has prompted cash rich individuals to seek out property investments for better yields and driven demand up for property.

“Our view is that most prime markets are suffering from an undersupply of stock and this will help maintain prices in the short term. Looking further ahead, however, it is those locations that offer a genuine lifestyle attraction to the world’s wealthy, rather than just an investment opportunity, that will prove most sustainable,” he wrote.

Private property transactions in 2009 jumped by an astonishing 130% compared to 2008, in spite of the economic slowdown. Singapore buyers formed the bulk of this trend and snapped up 159% more condominiums and apartment last year whereas the rise in landed transactions rose nearlt 83 %.

The number of purchases by foreigners, including permanent residents (PRs), rose 114 per cent overall last year – 6,798 compared to 3,176 in 2008. The bulk of the increase was in the non-landed segment, which rose from 3,036 purchases in 2008 to 6,610 last year – a jump of 118 per cent.

Experts say that pent-up demand and bullish market sentiment in early 2009 were the drivers for many local buyers. More foreigners were also buying property last year. Foreigners and PR made up only 6.6 per cent of total transactions in 1999. In 2009, that figure rose to 27.3 per cent. For many foreigners and Permanent Residents living here, buying a property here may make more sense than paying high rentals. Currently, a 2 bedroom apartment for rent at The Sail @ Marina Bay fetches about $5,000 a month in rental up from just $3,000 a year ago.

February 2010 marks the return of the $3,000 psf level at The Sail @ Marina Bay. Two units in the the high end development recorded unit transaction prices of $3,058 psf (price per square foot) and $3,204 psf  in that month. Both units are located at the Central Park Tower which was launched in 2004 where the psf was around $1,000psf only. The Sail is one of the most actively traded apartment projects in Marina Bay. More details can be found in the full article below.

Apartment at The Sail hits $3,204 psf

High-end properties are revisiting the $3,000 psf price range. In the Marina Bay area, the 1,111-unit The Sail @ Marina Bay steals the spotlight once again with six transactions in the week of Jan 26 to Feb 5; four above $2,000 psf while two crossed the $3,000 psf level. While Sentosa Cove and Keppel Bay are abuzz over the opening of Resorts World at Sentosa, excitement is also mounting at Marina Bay as Las Vegas Sands announced last Wednesday it will open the first phase of its US$5.5 billion ($7.8 billion) Marina Bay Sands integrated resort with casino on April 27, and the second phase on June 23. Read the rest of this entry »

Multinational Corporations like financial institutions are continuing to ink new deals for Grade A office space in the Marina Bay area as well as Shenton Way. There appears to be no letting up in office leasing deals that started in mid 2009 and property experts predict that commercial rents could be on their way up.

Barclays Capital, which has already leased 100,000 sq ft at Marina Bay Financial Centre’s Tower 2 is expected to exit from Atrium @ Orchard and is said to be looking for another 250,000 sq ft in the same tower. ANZ Bank is also said to be looking at office space at the new Ocean Financial Centre along Collyer Quay. This 43 storey building is diagonally opposite The Sail @ Marina Bay and is expected to be completed by 1st quarter 2011 and will have 850,000 sq ft of new office space.

Colliers International executive director Calvin Yeo said: ‘We are starting to see our clients, who are MNCs including financial institutions, planning for expansion as their existing leases approach expiry.’

The new influx of office space is not expected to dampen Grade A office space rentals current at about $8 psf a month as some one million sq ft of existing office stock is expected to be removed in 2010-2011 for conversion to residential use.

Nonetheless, UBS has predicted a 30 per cent jump in the average monthly Grade A office rental value from $8.10 psf at the end of last year to $10.60 psf at end-2010, citing growth in demand.

The Chinese New Year period is typically a slow month for private property transactions and this February was no exception. According to URA data, there were only 3 transactions for The Sail @ Marina Bay. One of those 3 units sold was an 883 sq ft, 2 bedroom unit that was sold for $3,048 psf. This resulted in a jump of the average unit transacted prices for Feb 2010 to more than $2,400 or nearly $300 higher than the average PSF for the last 6 months.

At the nearby Marina Bay Residences, only 2 units changed hands in February with one of the units fetching $2,581 psf. This caused a smaller jump in the February unit transacted price for Marina Bay Residences of slightly over $100 only as compared to the previous month.

With continued low interest rates and growing consumer confidence in the economy, coupled with the opening of the nearby Marina Bay Financial Centre and integrated resorts, we likely to see bullish property prices for these two luxury condominiums in the near future.