S$15.8 million deal at Leedon Residence tops Q2 resale gains with seller earning S$3.3 million profit
The first-floor unit at the freehold luxury condominium in the prime District 10 was bought for S$12.5 million, or S$1,553 per square foot (psf), back in February 2017, according to data crunched for The Business Times by real estate consultancy Cushman & Wakefield.
On a psf basis, the unit went at SS$1,962 psf in June 2025.
With a holding period of 8.4 years, the annualised profit works out to 2.8 per cent, with the seller's gross gain amounting to about 26 per cent.
Notably, resales at Leedon Residence have recently proved to be highly profitable, coming out on top in the last two quarters. In Q1, two of the five most profitable transactions were from the development, with a 6,125 sq ft unit topping the list with the sale price of S$16 million, with a gross gain of S$4 million. Prior to that, in Q4 2024, another two Leedon Residence units were among the five biggest winners, with profits ranging from S$2.6 million to S$3 million.
Cushman's Q2 data also showed that the five biggest money-making transactions by quantum in the recent quarter were either freehold properties or those with a 999-year leasehold title, located in the prime Core Central Region (CCR) or Rest of Central Region (RCR). Such units tend to command a premium, noted Cushman & Wakefield research head Wong Xian Yang.
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In terms of percentage gains, executive condominium (EC) transactions proved yet again to be the most profitable in Q2, continuing a trend that emerged in Q1 2023.
Of the top five winners, four were units at the Hundred Palms Residences EC along Yio Chu Kang Road. These apartments were held for an average of just under eight years before being sold for an 'attractively high profit' of 130 to 139 per cent, said Wong.
He pointed out that 74 units have been sold since the development reached its five-year minimum occupation period in December 2024, with the majority seeing capital gains of more than 100 per cent.
The most profitable EC transaction in Q2 was for a 2,121 sq ft unit at the 99-year leasehold The Tampines Trilliant. It was sold for S$2.9 million (S$1,362 psf) in June, up 143 per cent from the seller's original price of S$1.2 million (S$561 psf) in January 2012. Given a holding period of 13.4 years, this works out to an annualised profit of 6.8 per cent and the seller netting S$1.7 million in profit.
Excluding ECs, the top five resale gainers by percentage were found in the city fringe and suburbs, with gross gains ranging from 92 to 119 per cent.
Topping the list was a 1,098 sq ft unit at 284 Joo Chiat Road in District 15. The freehold unit was sold for S$1.9 million (S$1,717 psf) in May, more than double its original price of S$860,000 (S$783 psf) in February 2017. This works out to an annualised profit of 10 per cent over a holding period of 8.2 years.
Biggest losses
Cushman & Wakefield's data also tracks the biggest loss-making transactions on a quarterly basis. The deal that spilled the most red ink in Q2, in terms of both quantum and percentage, was a 2,056 sq ft unit at the 99-year leasehold Marina Bay Suites in District 1. It changed hands for S$4.1 million (S$1,985 psf) in June, about a third lower than its original price of S$6.1 million (S$2,985 psf) in December 2012.
Based on a holding period of 12.4 years, this translates to annualised losses of 3.2 per cent.
All the biggest losers in the quarter were located in the prime CCR and purchased during varying periods of the market cycle, Wong added.
For its study, Cushman & Wakefield examined caveats for non-landed private homes that were transacted in Q2 2025 with a prior purchase history between January 2012 and June 2025. The analysis excluded transaction costs and taxes, such as buyer's stamp duty and seller's stamp duty.
Overall, prime CCR properties accounted for 62 per cent of loss-making deals in Q2 of this year, caveat data of landed and non-landed private homes showed. The RCR accounted for 30 per cent of such deals; and the Outside Central Region, 9 per cent.
While the CCR saw a larger share of loss-making deals, Wong noted that the majority of resale transactions in the region – at 79 per cent – were still profitable.
On the other hand, the proportion of loss-making deals for landed and non-landed homes inched up to 3.3 per cent in Q2, from 2.7 per cent in the previous quarter. Still, the figure remains relatively low, hovering at this level over the past two years, after declining from its peak of 21.8 per cent in Q2 2020.
Wong attributed the low levels of loss-making deals to homeowners' strong holding power as well as resilient upgrading demand for private homes amid still-low unemployment rates and strong household balance sheets.
Government flash estimates indicated that growth in public housing resale prices had slowed to 0.9 per cent quarter on quarter in Q2, after prices rose 1.6 per cent in Q1, following their 9.6 per cent gain for the year of 2024. Given the growing resale prices, this may enable more Housing and Development Board flat owners to channel the proceeds of a sale to upgrade to a private home.
Wong reckons that private residential prices are likely to rise around 2 to 3 per cent for the whole of 2025, easing slightly from the 3.9 per cent price growth in 2024.
'Barring new cooling measures and unforeseen economic shocks, the overall levels of loss-making deals are expected to remain low,' he added.
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