Housing market recovery showing signs of reaching Sentosa

This article is more than 12 months old

Jan 31, 2018 06:00 am

SINGAPORE A nascent recovery in the housing market is showing signs of reaching Sentosa. When the property market began a slide in end-2013, Sentosa was the hardest hit. Prices for Sentosa Cove apartments fell 35 per cent from where they started in 2013 compared with a 10 per cent drop on the mainland, according to Colliers International.

The market stabilised last year, recording its first annual rise in four years, albeit a meagre 1.1 per cent, and even Sentosa stopped falling.

"Sentosa prices appear to be finding a footing," Ms Tricia Song, Colliers' head of Singapore research, referring to apartments. But she expects Sentosa properties to lag prime real estate on the mainland as the location is less convenient.

JLL said 65 units were transacted last year, more than double the 31 in 2016. It expects deals to increase further this year.

Morgan Stanley forecast Singapore prices will increase 8 per cent this year, and Credit Suisse forecast prices to go up by as much as 10 per cent.

Mr Ong Teck Hui, JLL's national director of research, Singapore, predicts average prices of non-landed homes on Sentosa could rise 4 per cent to 7 per cent this year. - REUTERS