How does it usually feel when an individual buyer or family swoops into a show flat and decides to buy a stack of condo apartments in one go? Would it feel like a TOTO-striking moment for whoever’s closing the deal? Nerve-racking because of the quantum and insane money involved?
Possibly a bit of both.
“Imma go buy a few apartments now…”
Over the past few years, there have been several such “moments” which saw a super-wealthy buyer (or a family) purchasing multiple apartments within the same development. These purchases are usually a stack of apartments on the same floor or several levels together.
For foreigners, buying multiple properties at once also means paying a hefty Additional Buyer’s Stamp Duty (ABSD) – 30 per cent on each property based on Dec 2021’s cooling measures. This is above and beyond the Buyer’s Stamp Duty (BSD).
While most multi-property purchases by a single buyer are often private, we do have a list based on news from the past:
| Date | Development | District | Tenure | TOP | Total number of units | No of units bought | Room types | Floor levels | Nationality | Total area (in sqft) | Price | Average per square foot (psf) price | Notes |
| June 2022 | Draycott Eight | D10 | 99 years | 2005 | 136 | 22 | 21 four-bedroom apartments (around 2,900 sqft each) and a duplex penthouse (4069 sqft) | N/A | Indonesian | 65401 | $168m | $2570 | Buyer is understood to be an Indonesian family. Due diligence stage when reported in June |
| June 2022 | Canninghill Piers | D6 | 99 years | 2026 | 696 | 20 | 6 three-bedders (1,259 sqft each), five three-bedders (1,130 sqft) and nine four-bedders (1959 sqft) | various, from 6th to 23rd | Chinese | 30835 | $85m | $2757 | It was reported that the buyer was considering buying 10 more units |
| March 2021 | EDEN | D10 | Freehold | 2019 | 20 | 20 | Four-bedroom units with private garden (3,035 sqft each) | Entire condo | Taiwanese | 60700 | $293m | $4827 | Owner was reported to be the Tsai family of Want Want China Holdings |
| Feb 2020 | Le Nouvel Ardmore | D10 | Freehold | 2014 | 43 | Two | 4-bedroom units (each floor has 2 units – one that’s 3843 sqft and another that’s 3821 sqft) | High-level | Chinese and Singaporean | 7664 | $31.81m | $4150 | Man holding Chinese citizenship and a Singaporean woman (purchasing as a trustee for a beneficiary, likely a child) |
| Feb 2020 | Ritz-Carlton Residences | D9 | Freehold | 2013 | 58 | Two | Three-bedroom units (each floor has two units at 2831 sqft each) | Mid-level | Chinese citizens who are Singaporean PRs | 5662 | $20.28m | $3582 | |
| Jan 2020 | Le Nouvel Ardmore | D10 | Freehold | 2014 | 43 | Two | Four-bedroom units (each floor has two units – one that’s 3843 sqft and another that’s 3821 sqft) | High-level | Singaporean and US citizen | 7664 | $33m | $4,306 | Singaporean woman and US-citizen husband bought a unit each |
| June 2016 | Ardmore 3 | D10 | Freehold | 2015 | 84 | Three | Three-bedroom units (1744, 1776 and 1787 sq ft) | Mid-level | N/A | 5307 | $16.97m | $3198 | All three were on the same floor and purchased on the same day, presumably by the same buyer |
Seriously, it’s really none of our business to butt into the lives of ultra-high-net-worth individuals (UHNWIs), power couples or conglomerate families who buy multiple properties in the same development at once.
But we’ve come up with a few reasons why some do:
Beyond individual buyers or families buying multiple properties at once, there have also been situations in the past when veteran property buyers stepped in to bulk buy residential properties to aid a developer to avoid the Qualifying Certificate penalties.
While most of us are aware of the new 35 per cent ABSD on developers, a QC is a condition imposed on foreign property developers. These developers are defined as “foreign” if they have non-Singaporeans as directors as well as shareholders.
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This technically mean listed development companies are “foreign” since foreigners can own their shares.
Anyway, QC stipulates that development must be finished in five years and that all units must be sold within two years of completion.
If the developer fails to fulfil these conditions, it needs to pay extension charges between eight per cent to 24 per cent of the land purchase price based on whether it’s for the 1st, 2nd or 3rd and subsequent years.
This is why in the periods between 2013 and 2017, several renowned developments were affected by QC, namely The Interlace, Nouvel 18, Hallmark Residences and iLiv@Grange (which went en bloc and is now the site of the upcoming Grange 1866).
At the time, to avoid QC penalties, some developers were offering bulk discounts at 16-23 per cent or up to $300,000.
In 2017, veteran banker Wee Cho Yaw bought the remaining 45 unsold units of CapitaLand’s 55-unit The Nassim for $411.6m (a bulk discount of around 18 per cent) through his private real estate arm Kheng Leong.
The deal valued the property at $407.2m or $2,300 per sqft.
Other individual buyers who stepped up and bought some of the units at The Nassim included Sigid Wonowidjojo and his relative (his family controls Indonesia’s cigarette brand Gudang Garam).
If Wee had not purchased the remaining 45 unsold units by Aug 2017, CapitaLand would have had to pay a hefty $9.3m QC penalty in the first year.
Thankfully, much to the relief of most housing developers in Singapore, a revised 2020 law now allows a publicly listed housing developer to be QC-exempted if it has a substantial connection to Singapore.
Phew…