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Developer Kingsford Group sold 348 apartments or 37.1% of its 937-unit One Marina Gardens on its preview day on 12/April/2025. The average price for the apartments was $2,953 psf.
About 83% of purchasers were Singaporeans; the rest were foreigners and permanent residents (PRs).
“We are especially delighted by the market reaction to One Marina Gardens, especially considering the present world uncertainty and recent volatility resulting from erratic US tariff policies,” stated a spokesman for the project.
In such a globally challenging environment, the anticipated decline in interest rates and the reallocation of capital from more volatile financial instruments to safe-haven assets such Singapore real estate will probably bode well for property investment in Singapore,” the spokesman said.
The developer apparently picked up about 863 checks as indications of interest throughout the preview time. With the 348 units sold, this shows a conversion rate of 40.3%, more above the usual range of 30% to 35%.
“The significant response demonstrates buyer confidence and ongoing demand in the local market,” says Ken Low, managing partner at SRI.
Highest Demand Unit Type
Low mentioned that One Marina Gardens has 70% of one and two bedrooms type. About 83% of the one and two bedrooms sold on opening day ranged in price from $1.263 million to $2.168 million. Priced between $2.459 million and $4.977 million, the remaining transactions included three bedrooms and four bedrooms type.
Most of the one and two bedrooms were sold to investors, says Low. Their reasonable price, on line with certain developments in the city periphery or the Rest of Central Region (RCR) and even higher-tier offers in the Outside Central Region (OCR) drew them to One Marina Gardens.
“The starting prices for these units are rather competitive compared to other projects in the city centre and Downtown Core,” says Ismail Gafoor, CEO of PropNex. “They also establish a good standard for next Marina South precinct development.”
Gafoor says based on URA Realis caveat data as of April 12, the average transaction price for new, non-landed private houses in the Downtown Core, sized between 650 and 750 sq ft, was at around $1.84 million this year. At One Marina Gardens, two-bedroom apartments span 646 sq ft to 732 sq ft.
Among homebuyers, high-floor units with views of the CBD, Gardens by the Bay and Marina Bay Sands Integrated Resort were most sought after.
Homebuyers Purchase Top-Down Trend
Slightly over the previous stated range of $2,850 to $2,900 psf ahead of the project’s debut on March 25, the average price was about $2,953 psf.
“One of the mildest we have seen, the incremental price increase per floor offers great value for higher-floor units,” notes SRI’s Low.
First purchasers in this “top-down” sales pattern were those on upper floor levels. “The pricing approach enabled clever buyers to secure better-facing units at attractive entry points,” Low notes.
Apart from investors, Marcus Chu, CEO of ERA Singapore, notes there was a good mix of owner-occupiers. Among prospective owners, two, three-, and four bedroom units with views of the CBD, Gardens by the Bay, and Marina Bay Sands Integrated Resort were most sought after.
First Mover Advantage
Kingsford Group’s One Marina Gardens is one of the few sites directly next to the Marina South MRT station on the Thomson-East Coast Line (TEL), Chu notes, even though the Marina Gardens precinct in Marina South consists of more than 16 development plots that could finally produce around 10,000 new homes.
“One Marina Gardens has drawn great interest from forward-looking homebuyers and investors since it is the first residential project in the precinct,” he notes. Chu thinks consumers are using a “first-mower advantage” to position themselves for future capital appreciation and rental returns as the region develops.
Based on current Central Area market rates for comparable unit types, Mark Yip, CEO of Huttons Asia, projects that investors at One Marina Gardens might get gross rental returns of up to 4%.
Marina South has been assigned by the URA as a 10-minute, car-lite zone where resources like public transit, stores, workplaces, and community events are within a 10-minute walk or bike ride.
“The project enjoys strong locational attributes, being situated within Marina South, a mixed-use precinct envisioned as a sustainable and community-centric district,” adds PropNex’s Gafower. “We think One Marina Gardens will continue to draw interest over time as more homebuyers assess the market and develop a better knowledge of the area’s potential.”
Two towers make up One Marina Gardens: one rises 30 stories and the other 44 floors. On the first floor, the tower provides 52 lifestyle amenities and commercial space including two restaurants, two stores, and a daycare facility. Third quarter of 2028 is projected to see the project get its Temporary Occupation Permission (TOP).
Potential of the development
Mark Yip, CEO of Huttons Asia, said such behavior is typical with prior significant events such cooling measures, the Covid-19 epidemic, and financial crises, even although some buyers briefly held back owing to uncertainty coming from the on-again, off-again tariff pronouncements. “Buying sentiment usually returns once buyers have enough data to assess the possible impact,” he says.
Particularly those who give political and economic stability first priority, Huttons anticipates more overseas purchasers to resort to Singapore as a safe-haven. “Many purchasers still believe in the long-term value of Singapore property,” Yip says. “The stable surroundings of the nation stand in sharp contrast to the great volatility observed in world stock markets.”
Major infrastructure projects like Changi Airport Terminal 5 and the extension of Marina Bay Sands Integrated Resort, which have greatly raised demand in the building industry, are likely to drive rising construction prices in Singapore in 2025 and 2026. “This points to future selling prices probably trending upward,” says Huttons Asia’s CEO, Mark Yip.
Consistent with this view, Huttons’ data analytics team is keeping its estimate for new private house sales in 2025 at between 7,500 and 8,500 units, with predicted price increase of 4% to 7%.
