The 99-year-leasehold Blue Horizon condominium by Far East Organization, located along West Coast Crescent, has seen resale prices heading north since the launch of The Vision right next door. Developed by Cheung Kong (Holdings), The Vision is fully sold and has set a new price benchmark in the West Coast neighbourhood, with transactions crossing the $1,000 psf threshold and penthouses hitting a high of $1,266 psf.
The 295-unit The Vision has been a catalyst in raising the prices of condos in the neighbourhood, especially at the six-year-old, 616-unit Blue Horizon. Launched a decade ago, prices at Blue Horizon started at $400 to $500 psf. Resale prices today are in the range of $800 to $900 psf, with a high of $982 psf achieved last September, when a 904 sq ft, two-bedroom unit on the 15th floor of one of the five towers was sold for $888,000.
Apart from The Vision, Blue Horizon is the only other condo in the area that boasts views of the waterfront and West Coast Park. “Without a doubt, the launch of The Vision has led to renewed interest in Blue Horizon,” says Lena Low, director of Horizon Real Estate, who focuses on resale units at the latter. “Most owners at Blue Horizon are now asking between $930 and $1,000 psf for their units.”
Buyers have been a good mix of owner-occupiers and investors. The larger three- and four-bedroom units have been popular with investors, as those are sought-after by Japanese expatriate families with school-going children, given their proximity to the Japanese international schools in the vicinity. The area has also become popular with expatriate Indian nationals, many of whom are knowledge workers employed at one-north, which has industry-focused clusters, including biomedical sciences (Biopolis), infocomm technology and media (Fusionopolis).
With the influx of these expats, owners of two-bedroom units at Blue Horizon can expect monthly rental rates of between $3,200 and $3,500, while three-bedroom units could command $4,000 to $4,500. Based on the current selling prices, that works out to rental yields of around 3% and 4% per annum.
Owner-occupiers are also attracted to the West Coast area, and Blue Horizon in particular, as it’s probably one of the newer projects there. In the vicinity are also top tertiary institutions like Insead and the National University of Singapore, as well as sought-after schools such as Anglo-Chinese School and Junior College, as well as Fairfield Methodist Primary and Secondary.
The West Coast neighbourhood is also benefiting from the URA 2008 Master Plan, which outlines the blueprint for the transformation of the Jurong Lake District into a commercial hub to rival Marina Bay in terms of size. The area will embrace the work-liveplay concept, encompassing residential, office, hotel and entertainment-lifestyle-recreational elements.
In the week of Dec 28 to Jan 4, three units at Blue Horizon changed hands at $860 to $929 psf, according to caveats lodged with URA. The most recent transaction was early this month, when a 1,163 sq ft unit on the 21st floor was sold for $1.06 million ($912 psf), representing a 56.2% gain for the owner, who bought it for $678,590 ($584 psf) in 2002.
The other transactions were for a 12th floor unit that was sold for $990,000 ($860 psf) and a 24th-floor unit that went for $1.13 million ($929 psf). The seller of the latter unit had purchased it last April for $970,000 ($797 psf), and therefore made a 16.6% capital gain.