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Published December 14, 2006

Marina Bay's 418 units sold out, prices hit $2,770 psf

By KALPANA RASHIWALA

(SINGAPORE) Luxury condo Marina Bay Residences is virtually sold out. The highest unit price achieved as of 6pm yesterday was $2,770 psf for a high-floor, three-bedroom apartment, compared with a top price of $2,200 psf recorded on Tuesday.


Long line at the bay: Marina Bay Residences' showflat at One Raffles Place was bustling all day yesterday, with some early birds said to be offering their units for a 20 per cent net profit

All 418 apartments in the 55-storey project were sold by last night, and developer BFC Development Pte Ltd started selling the first four of 10 penthouses in the 99-year leasehold project through a tender. BFC is a tripartite partnership involving Hongkong Land, Keppel Land and Cheung Kong Holdings.

It sold the four duplex penthouses within an hour to foreigners at prices said to be more than $10 million each. This is believed to be the first time the tender method of sale has been employed for a residential property launch in Singapore.

The four duplex penthouses range from 3,606 sq ft to 4,435 sq ft. The remaining six penthouses - comprising five single-level units and a three-storey 'uber-penthouse' of 11,012 sq ft - are expected to be sold by tender today.

There is talk of early buyers in the development now offering to sell their units for handsome gains.

One source told BT that some of those who had bought units of one and two bedrooms on Tuesday - the first day of previews - are offering their units to those who failed to get into the showflat early enough, for a 20 per cent net profit.

The gain is after deducting 4.5 per cent transaction costs - comprising about 3.5 per cent stamp duty and legal fees when buying their units and one per cent for agent fees when selling.

With the cheapest one-bedroom unit costing around $1 million, this would mean speculators are eyeing profits of about $200,000 or more.

The project's showflat at One Raffles Place was bustling all day yesterday. A buyer who arrived at 4am, hoping to steal a march on others, found 50 people ahead of him.

BFC Development's head of residential marketing Kan Kum Wah said in a statement issued just before 6pm yesterday that about 60 per cent of sales have been to Singaporeans, and the rest to buyers from the region including Indonesia, Hong Kong, India, the Middle East and China.

Marina Bay Residences will be part of the Marina Bay Financial Centre project being developed by Hongkong Land, Keppel Land and Cheung Kong. The development comprises 428 units in total and was designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates, with interior designs by Axis ID.