The high-end of the property market seems to be slowly gaining interest from property seekers and starting to be discovered from its near non-existent degree.
Many property investors are trying to return to the resale property market just to take the opportunity to avail of the classy flats at values mostly lower the amount of $2,000 per sq ft (psf), or much lower on what was quoted a year ago.
One example is The Ladyhill, a 55-unit condo, which was sold to a Korean investor in a price not less than $6.5 million.
The value for a freehold flat calculated to about $1,700 psf, the average value of the early 20 units bought at the condo’s 2000 launch.
A year ago, before this transaction was made, only two caveats had been accommodated. Both deals were done at top levels. One was done in July 2008 – a larger unit at $2,149 psf ($9 million), while the other one was done last November – a 3,283 square foot unit for $2,193 psf ($7.2 million).
According to Consultancy Cushman & Wakefield, the number of high-end deals is not huge enough, but the interest of buyers is surely slowly rising up.
For other property experts, they observe that property buyers look for good value homes. They also believe that resale transactions are being made slowly because there is only a limited supply in the market and other sellers are much willing to be flexible.
According to Phylicia Ang, Savills residential director, the property developers still lie low where high-end openings are being referred.
In fact, according to the managing director of Cushman, Donald Han, some developers of top-end property developments desire to sell a property at present prices. He also said that some developers would choose to wait for the best period to open properties because going to market at the current situation would demand them to lose a significant amount of their price levels.
According to the data collected by Cushman & Wakefield from the government, six transactions, above $5 million each, were dealt a month ago, an increase from three transactions in March.
Compared to the grey levels of last November, which had no deal at all and in December with only one deal, it shows a slight improvement. Such deals amounted to 43 and 21 in June and May last year before the recession got worse.
However, according to property experts, the excessively cheap price levels that were registered in recent months may not be encountered anymore, as high-end prices have not stabilised.
Ms Ang said, “Just about three months ago, you could get an Ardmore II unit at less than $1,800 psf. At that time, you couldn’t see the daylight in the market”.