BFC residences to attract strong interest from foreign buyers: agent
By Matthias Chan, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 20 September 2006 1639
hrs
SINGAPORE: The proportion of foreign buyers for the residential
units at the Business and Financial Centre is expected to be higher
than the 30 percent recorded at The Sail at Marina.
This is according to marketing agent of the project, CB Richard
Ellis.
The property consultant says foreign buying has now trickled down
to the mid-end segment of the market.
The residential component of the Business and Financial Centre
has received strong overseas buyer interest in its pre-launch.
Marketing agent CB Richard, the marketing agent of the project,
said that the proportion of foreign buyers should outnumber that
of the neigbouring Sail @ Marina.
"I think if I look forward, recently with the announcement
of the integrated resort and also there has been a lot of publicity
on the huge growth in private banking and a lot of people are coming
in, I would think the percentage of foreign buyers for BFC apartments
will be much more than 30 percent," said Willy Shee, Chairman,
CB Richard Ellis Asia.
There has been interest to buy up whole floors, with foreign buyers
coming from a wider geographical spread.
"We found the profile of the buyers expanding. Traditionally,
our buyers are from Indonesia, Malaysia, Hong Kong. Now we find
that there has been an increasing interest from Europe, mainland
China, Russia and Australia. So we are seeing a much broader base
of foreign buyers now," said Mr Shee.
CB Richard Ellis says prices of the BFC homes are expected to match
subsales of The Sail at $1,400 to $1,650 per square foot if not
more, and looking into the next 24 months, the strength will not
be confined only to the high-end.
Consultants reckon that foreign buying, spurred by the influx of
middle managers, should begin to flow into the middle segment of
the residential market.
CB Richard Ellis predicts that the mid-end private apartments will
rise by 10 percent in 2007. - CNA /dt
