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THEY are no longer just artists' impressions or blueprints.
The first luxurious island resort homes in Singapore are finally standing.

These are the never-before-seen pictures of Singapore's most upmarket beachfront condos and bungalows perched at the edge of the sea.

--Mohd Ishak

Sentosa Cove - the veritable playground of the rich and famous in Singapore - is finally shaping up.

But we could take pictures only from the sea. The public isn't allowed access because it is private property.

When it comes to prestigious addresses, few can rival Sentosa Cove.

We're talking about the who's who of high society who have pumped in millions of dollars for an unrivalled seaview and waterfront-living.

These well-heeled owners are no doubt eager to move in, but for Sentosa - and for Singapore - the Sentosa Cove project is a long-awaited dream finally on the brink of coming true.

Once up, it will be one of the classiest residential estates in the region.

Some of these 99-year-leasehold bungalow sites were launched at about $260 psf in late 2003.

But prices have since escalated to more than $500 psf, The Straits Times reported last month.

An average bungalow plot of about 8,000 sq ft - about the size of seven five-room HDB flats - would cost about $4 million (based on $500 psf).

This does not even include the cost of building the bungalow, which can be upwards of $2 million.

Some of the bungalows The New Paper on Sunday saw looked like they will be completed soon.

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Some have swimming pools, and all boast huge floor-to-ceiling windows to take advantage of the sea view.

For others, most of the scaffolding and other signs of construction had been cleared out.

A few of the terrace houses and Ho Bee's The Berth By The Cove condo also seemed to be in the last legs of completion.

Over 90 per cent of the 200-unit Berth has been sold.

One of the 'cheapest' condo units - at 1,076 sq ft (about the size of a five-room HDB flat) - costs about $900,000.

City Developments' latest offering The Oceanfront@Sentosa Cove is also just around the corner.

Prices range from $1.4 million for a two-bedroom unit (1,216 sq ft) to over $8 million for a penthouse (8,095 sq ft) here.

This 264-units project was launched this weekend.

The properties shown on these pages are all in North Cove, which accounts for about 1,500 homes on Sentosa Cove.

In all, there are 214 bungalow plots, 30 terrace plots and 10 condominium plots.

Sentosa Cove will eventually have 2,500 homes.

About 60 per cent will be in North Cove.

The other 40 per cent, or 972 homes, on South Cove will comprise 156 bungalows and 816 condo units.

The blueprint for this upmarket waterfront project was unveiled by the Urban Redevelopment Authority some 10 years ago.

It envisaged the development of a residential enclave in Sentosa in the style of the French Riviera.

Today, Singapore is one step closer to that dream - slated to be realised by 2010.

Among the well-heeled who have bought bungalow plots here are the chief executive of Citigroup Global Wealth Management (Asia-Pacific and Middle East) Deepak Sharma.

Mr Sharma is married to one of Singapore's top liver surgeons, Dr Susan Lim.

Their neighbours would include Dr Della Suantio Lee of the Lee Foundation, popiah king Sam Goi, Mr Steven Soh of developer Land Resources Group and Mr Henry Tan, the former chairman of Accord Customer Care Solutions, said a Business Times (BT) report in 2003.

FOREIGN BUYERS

And it's not just the locals who are making waves in Sentosa.

Foreigners and permanent residents make up about 60 per cent of the buyers for the bungalow plots there.

Malaysians form the biggest group (44 plots), followed by Indonesians (40 plots) and Chinese (27 plots).

The rest have been bought by British, Indians, Japanese and Australians, The BT reported in February.