Marina Bay, the new Orchard?

Are properties in our CBD area undervalued?

As far as I know, there are only a handful of condos that made it into this distinction. Namely One Shenton, The Sail, Lumiere, The Clift, Icon, MBR, The Arris, Altez (the new cousin) and probably a few more low profile ones.

Excluding The Sail and MBR which were prematurely infected with the Marina Bay Fever, the rest are still struggling to meet the $1800psf to $2000psf mark, with new launch Altez taking the lead. In 2007, the highest psf reached in this area was barely in the $3000+ range.

If you compare with prime Orchard properties however, they are still far below their current average of $2500+psf and 2007 peak of $5600psf! The honour of course goes to the centrepiece Orchard Residences, which sits right on top of Ion Orchard.

Singapore falls far behind other international cities in terms of development of private homes in the CBD area, but then again its no surprise. Just take walk at night say maybe 10pm in the CBD and in Orchard. You will get your answer on why Orchard is still a better dwelling location.

But now that the Marina Bay Sands in opening in April and the Gardens by the Bay are slowly taking shape, Marina Bay may just succeed in becoming another Orchard, or better. So maybe everyone should buy CBD properties now before prices shoot through the roof (that's probably what the lady in her 30s who bought 4 units in Altez thought)? Either way, 2010 will be an exciting year for us, I'm sure.