More Singaporeans are now buying resale waterfront and city homes in the country

More Singaporeans are now buying resale waterfront and city homes in the country.

According to CB Richard Ellis (CBRE), the secondary sales of homes in the major inner city districts like Marina Bay and Sentosa reached S$750.8 million last year.

This is higher than the average secondary sales levels between 2005 and 2008 at about S$738 million.

The resale transactions in the major inner city and Sentosa districts increased by 15-percent compared with the new sales in those areas last year.

New homes were sold for about S$652 million.

The vigorous resale volume and transaction values demonstrate ongoing and continued demand for homes in the new major areas, CBRE said.

According to Mr. Joseph Tan, Executive Director for Residential of CBRE, the major pull was the convenience and living within the city. He also added that the limited number of new project launches in the inner city district is an additional draw.

In 2009, the major inner city and the Sentosa area sold 286 units of non-landed homes compared with the 482 units sold in the resale market.

The most popular expansion was Caribbean@Keppel Bay, which sold 200 units, followed by The Sail@Marina Bay, which sold 128 units, according to CBRE.

The resale demand reached 246 units or about half of last year’s volume in the first five months of 2010.
CBRE believes that developers could convert and redevelop older office blocks to high-end residential uses, such as the Starhub Centre and 76 Shenton Way, because of the continuing demand for residential units.

Some 1.3 million sq ft of offices are estimated to be converted to residential use, up to 2013.