City View @ Boon Keng, which offers views of the Kallang River, saw a 5-room unit sold for $1.1 million. (Photo: Sengkang~commonswiki / Wikimedia Commons)
Despite a depressed resale market, a 28th-floor flat at City View @ Boon Keng was sold for $1.1 million – a record price for a Design, Build and Sell Scheme (DBSS) unit, reported The Straits Times.
The 5-room flat comes with views of the sea and the Sports Hub.
The deal underscores what housing experts call a persistent demand by some home buyers for centrally located premium units. They noted that units commanding such sky-high prices are ‘outliers’.
The 35-year old seller, who wanted to be known only as Mr Tan, said he was trying his luck given that “the location is very convenient”.
Two weeks ago, Tan and his wife signed the option to purchase.
The sale works out to a profit of over $300,000, as they acquired the flat for around $700,000 in 2008, when the DBSS project was launched.
City View in Kallang is the second DBSS development to enter the resale market in January, following The Premiere in Tampines in 2014.
City View, however, has been sold at higher prices due to its central location, with three other units breaching the $1 million mark.
The question now is whether other DBSS projects will be able to replicate such unusually high prices.
Last month, units at Park Central in Ang Mo Kio began meeting the five-year minimum occupation period, while those at Natura Loft in Bishan will become eligible this month.
Meanwhile, units at Parc Lumiere in Simei have been placed on the market since February, with some priced at $738,000.
Industry players believe that there is still demand for premium units despite the sluggish resale environment. Aside from quality and location, such units also have attributes that ‘money can’t buy’, said ERA Realty agent Kavin Kuah, who represented Tan in the record deal, citing the view from the unit.
R’ST Research Director Ong Kah Seng noted that while the majority of resale flat buyers will be cautious and work within their budget, a couple of buyers “with deep pockets will hold contrarian views and see the worth of the flat beyond the current gloomy statistics and pessimistic property picture”.
Romesh Navaratnarajah, Senior Editor at PropertyGuru, edited this story. To contact him about this or other stories, email romesh@propertyguru.com.sg
