Originally Posted by
wesing, 27 January 2010 11.31 am
Yup. Book my unit during the VVIP preview on Friday 22 Jan morning. It was really crowded and the MC coordinating the balloting to gain access to the showroom mentioned that around 180 individuals registered for the preview in the morning while the public only get to view in the afternoon.
The price was indeed lower for the initial releases as I was lucky to be around the 40 odd individuals to be admitted. Only 6 units of stack #8 which I am interested in were released initially - 5-7 and 21-23 storeys. The 21th & 23rd floor unit (2 bedder @ 904 sq ft) caught my attention in that the price were set at $1,207,000 & $1,218,000 respectively which is just above my max budget of $1.2 million. However, both were snapped up before my turn to make the booking.
When it was near my turn to book after a long queue, CDL released another 5 units (9-13 storeys) of stack #8 and 12 & 13 storeys were taken immediately by two gentlement in front of the queue. As a result, I took the 11th storey unit at $1,184,080 (or $1,310 psf).
To my surprise, when I was back at the showroom in the evening to sign the option paper, I saw the 14th floor unit which I believed was released later in the afternoon sold for $1,224,000 (or near this amount) which costs more than the 21 and 23 storey unit released in the morning! Sound ridiculous right?
No regrets for me as I intend to buy the Cube 8 condo for personal residence as my current EC at Woodlands (3-bedder @ 1,292 sqft) is too big for me and my wife as we have no kids. Furthermore, a few same size units in my estate had transacted at over $600K last year.
As to whether I bought this condo at the peak, my reaction is that since I am buying for residence and long-term investment, it does not really matter. How often can one buy low and then sell high.