Suntec Tower 1’s Uppermost Office Floor Sold For Record S$3,850 Psf
SINGAPORE – The uppermost level of the 44-storey Suntec Tower 1 has been acquired for S$39.7 million, which translates to S$3,850 psf based of the asset’s strata area of 10,312 sq ft, with the office transaction officially signed in September 2022, reported The Business Times on Wednesday morning (5 October, SGT).
Market observers revealed that this is a record psf price for an entire office floor at Suntec City, surpassing 2 records set in recent months in the adjacent Suntec Tower 2: level 31 was sold for S$3,350 psf in August, while the 30th floor changed hands for about S$3,300 psf in June.
Suntec City comprises office buildings, a shopping mall, and a convention centre. It sits on a 99-year leasehold site with effect from 1 March 1989. This means it has a remaining leasehold term of 65 years and 5 months.
The recent record psf transactions at Suntec City show that Singapore’s office investment sector is presently a two-tier market, said Galven Tan, Deputy Managing Director of investment sales and capital markets at Savills Singapore.
“The institutional pool of buyers who are driven by returns are currently on the sidelines, monitoring the market as it is affected by the increase in interest rates. On the other hand, the ultra-high-net-worth individuals and family offices view real estate as a hedge against inflation, and continue to buy choice commercial properties such as strata offices and shophouses.”
He noted that Suntec City’s strata offices continue to see robust interest among investors thanks to the high quality of the office space there and the project’s recently refurbished office lobbies “Moreover, the unobstructed views of Marina Bay and Kallang Basin are extremely attractive.”
Suntec Tower 1’s top floor, which is presently leased by the Qatar Embassy, is being divested by a firm owned by Wang Kwang Yu and his wife Kwee Lee Chien, daughter of Pontiac Land Group’s Founder Henry Kwee.
The buyer is a Singapore-incorporated firm fully owned by a Thai national by the name of Phucherlin Klongkitjakon. She is a board member and director of Phnom Penh-based IQPS Trading, a company that imports and distributes fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) throughout Cambodia.
According to IQPS’s website, Phucherlin Klongkitjakon is a veteran Cambodian/Thai businesswoman, who operates in China, Thailand, and Cambodia. She also has extensive managerial and ownership involvement in several industries including financial services, import and distribution of FMCGs. She is also part of the management team of Cambodia-based ANCO Brothers Group.
