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(SINGAPORE) A consortium linked to Macau casino tycoon Stanley Ho, and which includes Japanese and possibly Hong Kong investors, is said to have bought the 11,012-square-feet uber penthouse and five smaller penthouses at Marina Bay Residences.

Window on the bay: The consortium, which includes Japanese and Hong Kong investors, paid slightly more than $28 million for the 11,012-sq-ft penthouse at Marina Bay Residences.

The investment will cost them a total of more than $90 million, sources say.

BT understands that Mr Ho's son Lawrence may have been spotted at Thursday night's tender, when the uber penthouse on the top three levels of the 55-storey project was sold for slightly more than $28 million. It was packaged with a 4,672-sq-ft single-level penthouse just below it.

The consortium members are also said to have bought two single-level penthouses at $3,400 per square foot (psf) on Thursday.

And they are understood to have picked up two of the four duplex penthouses transacted in Wednesday night's tender.

Meanwhile, there has been a surge in the number of apartments offered for sub-sale at the 428-unit 99-year-leasehold development - going by advertisements placed by property agents in The Straits Times Classifieds yesterday.

Two agents that BT spoke to said they have not found buyers for the units they are marketing. One suggested that asking prices in the sub-sale market are too high. 'The $2,600 psf to $2,800 psf being demanded by some of these sellers is close to St Regis prices - and that's for freehold, branded residences in District 9,' said a senior agent with a major agency.

Those seeking to sell units at Marina Bay Residences in the sub-sale market are said to be demanding prices that reflect net profits of $150,000 to $300,000 for one and two-bedroom apartments, and $700,000 to more than $1 million for three and four-bedroom units.

'Speculators who have bought several units and are tight on financing may start to get cold feet now they will have to pay stamp duty by March 14 next year, and may start to dispose of their properties by lowering their asking prices,' the senior agent predicted.

He advises those thinking of buying units in the sub-sale market to take into account the fact that they will have to pay the original buyer of the unit his sub-sale profit virtually upfront, besides having to make progress payments to the developer. In addition, they most likely will not enjoy deferred payment, even if the original buyer did.

'In short, anyone who buys in the sub-sale market will have to have deep pockets and cannot rely so heavily on bank loans,' the agent said.