During the week of Nov 12 to 19, the most profitable condo resale transaction occurred at Maple Woods, a freehold condo located on Bukit Timah Road in prime District 10. The sale involved a three-bedroom unit on the first floor, which sold for $3.3 million, or $2,144 per square foot, on Nov 15. The seller had originally purchased the unit in April 2009 for $1.28 million, or $830 per square foot, resulting in a profit of $2.02 million. This translates to a capital gain of 158% for the seller, or an annualised profit of 10.6% over a period of about 15 and a half years.
Maple Woods was built in 1997 and has 697 residences, ranging from two to four bedrooms and sized from 850 square feet to 3,003 square feet. It is conveniently located just a five-minute walk from King Albert Park MRT Station on the Downtown Line and is close to Methodist Girls’ School and the Rail Corridor.
There have been 10 other resale transactions at Maple Woods this year, and all of them have been profitable deals. Three of these units were sold for profits exceeding $2 million. For example, a 1,787 square foot, three-bedroom unit on the eighth floor sold for $3.75 million, or $2,099 per square foot, on July 1997. The seller made a profit of $2.15 million after originally purchasing the unit in July 1997 for $1.6 million, or $895 per square foot.
Another profitable resale transaction took place at UE Square, which is part of UE BizHub City, a mixed-use development in District 9. On Nov 14, a three-bedroom unit measuring 1,528 square feet on the seventh floor sold for $2.95 million, or $1,930 per square foot. The seller had originally acquired the unit through a sub-sale in December 1997 for $1.3 million, or $850 per square foot, resulting in a profit of $1.65 million after owning the unit for nearly 27 years.
Meanwhile, the most unprofitable condo resale transaction during this week was at Tomlinson Heights, a luxury condo off Orchard Boulevard. The 2,745 square foot unit on the 19th floor sold for $8.25 million, or $3,006 per square foot, on Nov 19. The seller had purchased the unit from the developer in February 2011 for $8.85 million, or $3,225 per square foot. This resulted in a loss of about $601,000, or 6.8%, after owning the unit for almost 14 years. This is the first caveated transaction at Tomlinson Heights since Jan 5, 2023, when another 2,745 square foot unit sold for $10.5 million, or $3,825 per square foot. The seller, who bought the unit from the developer in May 2011 for $8.38 million, or $3,053 per square foot, made a gain of $2.12 million.
One advantage of investing in a condo is the opportunity to leverage its value for further investments. This is a popular tactic among investors who use their condos as collateral to secure additional funding for new ventures, leading to the growth of their real estate portfolio. While this approach can enhance profits, it also comes with potential risks, making it important to have a solid financial strategy in place and carefully evaluate the potential effects of market fluctuations. With the emergence of New Condo Launches, investors now have even more options to expand their investment opportunities.
Overall, the most profitable resale transactions during this week occurred at Maple Woods and UE Square, while the most unprofitable transaction occurred at Tomlinson Heights. Maple Woods and UE Square have seen consistently profitable resale transactions throughout the year, while Tomlinson Heights has only seen one other resale transaction recorded since Jan 5, 2023.
As for the condo market in District 9, the price trend graph for resale units shows an overall increase in prices from Jan 2010 to Oct 2023, with a slight dip in 2020 due to the pandemic. Prices have been steadily recovering since then, with an average price increase of 2.5% over the last 12 months.