Condo in Singapore’s Orchard Area Leases for Record High Price

A condo in the Orchard Road area has leased for a record S$15.60 per square foot per month, setting a new high-water mark in Singapore’s apartment market with analysts seeing the potential for even pricier deals in the future.

An unnamed tenant agreed to pay S$100,000 (about $74,200) per month for a unit at The Marq on Paterson Hill which measures between 6,300 square feet (585 square metres) and 6,400 square feet, setting a record price per unit area for a home leasing at that ticket size, based on data from PropNex Research and URA Realis.

“With the influx of ultra-high-net-worth individuals, it is possible that more record-breaking deals could happen,” Ying Khuan Pow, research head of property agency 99.co, told Mingtiandi on Monday. “The demand from them to rent at a prestigious address or iconic developments that command scarcity value remains high, coupled with the fact that such luxury residential units with rare and attractive attributes are hard to come by.”

While Singapore’s home price growth has shown signs of slowing in recent months, rents have been on the upswing with rates for private non-landed properties growing 7.3 percent in the city’s core central region during the fourth quarter, compared to 7.0 percent over the preceding three months, according to URA figures. Residential rents in the city-state rose an average of more than 29 percent last year the agency’s records show.

Pools and Views

Pow said the deal for the four-bedroom unit at the Marq, which was first reported by the Business Times, reflected in part the project’s low density at 66 units and its prestigious address in District 9.

With the two block property located just a few blocks away from Orchard MRT station, Pow noted that homes in the development have individual 15-metre lap pools and unblocked views of the city.

In July last year another unit at the Marq had leased for S$80,000 per month and an apartment at St Residences Novena found a tenant willing to pay S$98,000 a month in June. The lease for the Novena serviced apartment unit translated to S$7.72 per square foot for a 12,700 square foot unit.

Data from real estate agency PropNex shows that Singapore saw only two other residential leasing transactions surpassing S$100,000 per month in the past two decades, including a S$170,000 per month deal in April 2018 for a 17,400 square foot unit at the Lumiere on Mistri Road in District 2.

Before the global financial crisis, a 31,000-square-foot unit in The Compass at Elizabeth on Mount Elizabeth Link leased for S$195,833 in a 2007 transaction.

Rents to Rise 10-15%

With China having dropped its COVID-19 restrictions, Siew Ying Wong, research and content head at PropNex, expects Singapore’s high-end leasing market to remain hot as more wealthy individuals shop for homes in the city-state at the same time that the supply of large, premium homes for rent in the city centre remains limited.

“Generally, we expect the high-end home rental market to remain healthy this year. With the reopening of China, there may be more leasing interest for high end homes in the city,” Wong told Mingtiandi.

A market report by Savills Research on Friday showed monthly rents for high-end private condos across the city-state rose 5.8 percent to an average of S$5.83 per square foot in the fourth quarter from the previous three months – reaching their highest level since the second quarter of 2008.

The property agency expects demand from ultra-rich foreigners to drive up rents for luxury apartments by around 10 to 15 percent this year.

“Prices for luxury properties, both for purchase and rental, have continued to rise unabatedly, causing a ripple effect in the mid-tier and mass market segments of the real estate market,” Marcus Loo, chief executive of Savills Singapore. “While some rent adjustments may be expected in H2 2023 due to the completion of more mass market projects, these changes are not going to have any impact on the luxury segment.”