Setia Residences (D11, Freehold)

City & Country: Zooming in on luxury condos

By Cecilia Chow of The Edge singapore

Henning Thoresen, 41, has been very busy lately. The marketing director of Landseer Property Services, who has been helping expatriates and foreigners make real estate investment decisions in Singapore for the past decade, has seen client enquiries shoot up since the start of the year. "A lot of them are buying now," he tells The Edge Singapore. "Many of them are sniffing around."
And these high net worth individuals are zooming in on new, freehold, super-luxury condominiums. In Singapore, these properties are defined as those with an average entry price of at least S$1,300 (RM2,926.22) psf, located within a freehold development of mostly three- and four-bedroom apartments and penthouses, measuring at least 2,000 sq ft and with quality interiors. In terms of location, they have to be in the prime Orchard Road Districts of 9, 10 and 11. Thoresen sees an increase in demand from Indonesians as well as non-traditional buyers like Americans, British, Western Europeans and even Scandinavians.

"What you will see in future in Singapore are more limousines heading straight into the garage [of luxury condominiums] — people who are very wealthy and very private," says Thoresen. "Singaporeans will have to get used to seeing more of such wealth around... The upper market is moving away from the rest of the market and is taking on a life of its own, largely because of the [integrated] resorts." The resorts play a key role as they signal the willingness of the government "to turn Singapore upside down" in order to transform it into a world-class city, he adds.

Hong Leong Holdings, City Deve-lop-ments Ltd and TID Pte Ltd (a joint venture between Hong Leong and Japan's leading developer, Mitsui Fudosan) are jointly developing the six-star St Regis Residences at the corner of Tanglin Road, Tomlinson Road and Cuscaden Road. Thoresen says the project, expected to be launched in the second half of this year, is likely to be priced around S$2,000 psf. He predicts: "Because there's a shortage — very little is built in this level — if you're in [a posh] location, I believe in two to three years' time, we will be getting close to S$2,500 psf for the new luxury projects."

Another recently launched luxury condo is The Boulevard Residence at Cuscaden Walk, developed by SC Global Developments. There is only one type of unit, measuring 2,034 sq ft. The entry price is S$3 million. "I see investment bankers buying these units," says Thoresen. "We've just sold one there." Last month, a unit on the sixth floor was sold at S$3.095 million, while a unit on the 28th floor was sold for S$3.695 million. The development provides concierge and valet services for residents, typical of a five-star hotel.

Thoresen is marketing Setia Residences, which he describes as a "super-luxury condominium", located on Evelyn Road, off Newton Road in prime District 11. Soft-launched at the start of June, this high-rise condominium tower has only 25 units. Each apartment, which measures 3,348 sq ft, occupies an entire floor and has its own private lift lobby with security access to the respective floor.
Each unit has four spacious bed-rooms that have en-suite bathrooms with five-star finishes. Air-conditioning is provided for all bedrooms, living and dining rooms, the family area, kitchen and even the maid's room. The walk- or built-in wardrobes in all bedrooms are of the high-end Interlubke brand.
The kitchen is spacious and equipped with top-of-the-line Euro-pean brands, such as Gaggenau (built-in oven, electrical steamer and built-in microwave oven), Sub-Zero (refrigerator and dishwasher) and Miele (washing machine and dryer). For American and European families, the most important part of the house is the kitchen, observes Thoresen. "That's the wow-factor for them," he adds. "Western families like cooking together; it's part of their entertainment together."

Setia Residences, developed by a Singaporean family, is a brand-new project that received its temporary occupation permit earlier this year. It is the redevelopment of a former eight-storey apartment building on the land that the family owns. The architect for the project is Architect 61, which also designed other luxury condo projects like Cuscaden Residence and The Tomlinson.

Besides the typical condomi-nium facilities like swimming pool, children's pool, gymnasium and clubhouse, there are other recreational facilities like a function room for private parties, a rooftop terrace with Jacuzzi and a barbecue station equipped with utensils, crockery, ice- and coffee-making machines, remote-controlled music selection and TV point.

Given the top-end finishes, facilities and well-thought-out design, not surprisingly, each unit at Setia Residences costs more than S$5 million.

Cecilia Chow is editor of City and Country at The Edge Singapore