THE high prices fetched at last Friday's auction of 12 vacant Sentosa Cove bungalow plots have prompted the developer to put eight more blocks up for sale at similar levels.
The plots are expected to fetch record prices comparable to those sold last week, meaning potential owners will have to pay between $5 million and $7 million each.
Five of the plots face the Tanjong Golf Course with the rest looking on to the canals.
Last week's auction, which attracted a crowd of about 400, showed that plots facing the sea - with unrivalled views of the Southern Islands - attracted much higher bids than those facing the canals or golf course.
One buyer snapped up one such ocean-view plot, paying $8.15 million for it. This works out to an astonishing $1,039 per sq ft (psf) - a record for a bungalow plot in Singapore. He may have bid that high as he had already bought the adjoining plot for $6.68 million and had plans to build on both.
The auction prices ranged from $656 to $1,039 - all well above the previous Sentosa Cove record of $500 psf for a vacant bungalow plot.
And they almost all trumped the highest transacted price for a good class bungalow - the most prestigious type here - of $680 psf.
That was registered in the second quarter of this year for a 15,070 sq ft home in Bishopsgate which sold for an absolute price of $10.25 million.
The eight new Sentosa Cove plots, all on 99-year lease, should also surpass that old record with the prices set at between $670.05 psf and $802.81 psf.
They range in size from 6,584.34 sq ft to 8,727.45 sq ft, putting the absolute price range at $5.29 million to $7 million.
And they all come with free membership at the nearby One-degree 15 Marina Club, which costs $30,888 currently.
None of the plots have yet been sold but they have attracted a lot of interest, said the master developer, Sentosa Cove.
'Those price levels make freehold good class bungalow prices look fairly attractive,' said Mr Steven Ming of property consultancy Savills Singapore.
Prices of such bungalows have already risen by 15 per cent to 20 per cent in the past year and could climb by a further 10 per cent to 15 per cent in the next 12 months, he said.
However, the records set at Sentosa Cove could potentially accelerate the rise in prices of these high-end bungalows, Mr Ming added.
The 12 plots sold at last week's auction and the eight newly released blocks are in South Cove, the southern precinct of Sentosa Cove.
The precinct will have 972 homes, of which 156 will be bungalows and the rest condominium units.
This represents one-third of the 2,500 homes earmarked for the exclusive residential enclave sitting on mostly reclaimed land in the eastern part of Sentosa island.
All the bungalow plots in the rest of Sentosa Cove - the North Cove - have been sold at up to $500 psf.
To market the South Cove, Sentosa Cove will be embarking on a series of roadshows, starting with Malaysia next month. Hong Kong could be next on the list.
joyceteo@sph.com.sg
