The Ritz-Carlton Residences is selling two units at S$16.5M, or S$5,397 psf.
CCR prices on a per-square foot basis reached their peak in 2011, with a 3,089 ft2 unit at The Marq Paterson Hill selling for S$6,650, or S$20.5m. In October 2021, a Les Maisons-Nassim Penthouse sold for S$75m (S$6,210 psf).
The latest sales, although not a CCR’s record, was a new high in the Ritz-Carlton Project, where a 3,057 sf unit at the 31stfloor sold for S$4,907 psf. The price of the unit in question was S$15 million.
Two adjacent units in The Ritz-Carlton Residences Singapore Cairnhill luxury development were recently sold at S$16.5 million per unit or S$5,397 a square foot (psf). This was the first price in the prime housing market to surpass S$5,000 psf in over ten years.
On the basis of caveats from URA Realis data, the two apartments are each 3,057-square-foot (sq. ft.) in size. They sit on 33rd floors in the 58 freehold units in District 9. On Jan 9, they were purchased for S$33 million.
Cheong stated that the ABSD amount of 5 per cent for PRs is very reasonable compared to other major cities. Hong Kong, as an example, charges non-permanent residences a Buyer’s stamp duty of 7.5%. The tax was cut from 15% to 7% in October 2011 to encourage the housing market.
URA Realis reported that the number for foreign home buyers has decreased in CCR after the ABSD rates doubled. Just 14 nonlanded private houses were purchased in December 2018 by nonpermanent non-residents, compared with 74 purchases in December 2020.
When the price of luxury homes in the Core Central Region (CCR), a prime location in Singapore, last reached S$5,000/sq ft, in June 2016, a 6,179-sq-ft unit at the Les Maisons Nassim luxury condo in District 10 went for S$32.7million ($5,300/sq ft) or S$5300/sq ft.
Even so, some analysts warn that this may not be the beginning of a real recovery in prime property, where foreign investment has dropped since the April increase in Additional Buyer’s Stamp Duty.
EdgeProp claims that Yuan Yonggang – chairman of Chinese manufacturing giant Suzhou Dongshan Precision Manufacturing Co – and his spouse, Wang Wenjuan – bought the Ritz Carltons in separate transactions. Both are believed permanent residents of Singapore.
ABSD will be 5% on each unit if it is the couple’s very first home purchase. ABSD of 5 per cent would mean that each unit costs around S$825,000.
ABSD rates remaining unreasonably high will probably continue this trend.
China’s luxury home buyers have been showing an increased interest since the year 2024. Many of them had made arrangements to visit property during the Chinese holiday period.
Foreigners continue to be required to pay ABSD of 60%. This is a major dampener on demand. It is even more so in the CCR, which is a market that is dominated by foreign buyers.
PropNex brokered these latest Ritz-Carlton Deals. The buyers of the property purchased it because they liked the fact that the property met all their needs.
However, two such transactions do not necessarily indicate that wealthy Chinese purchasers are returning to the market in a meaningful way.
