Singaporean Mathilda Koh, CEO and founder of homegrown beauty salon Bioskin, has just bought a bungalow at Cove Drive in the waterfront residential enclave of Sentosa Cove. Koh paid $14.155 million ($1,777 psf) for the property, based on a caveat lodged on September 2.

The bungalow was built in 2011 and sits on a 99-year leasehold site of 7,968 sq ft, with a swimming pool. It has an uninterrupted view of the award-winning Sentosa Golf Club's Tanjong Golf Course and the CBD skyline beyond. The previous owner had purchased the property for $12.5 million ($1,569 psf) in April 2012.

Another bungalow along Cove Drive was sold for over $20 million or close to $2,600 psf in July 2023, although a caveat was not lodged for the deal.

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Koh’s recent purchase at $1,777 psf is deemed "very attractive". She owns multiple properties in Sentosa Cove, having purchased her first bungalow plot there in 2006. It was an 8,898 sq ft bungalow lot at Lakeshore View overlooking Sentosa Cove's Serapong Golf Course in 2006. She built a new bungalow there, and after living in it for five years, she reportedly sold it for $26 million ($2,922 psf) in late June 2013. She is said to have made a profit of $18 million from it.

Her sale proved timely as the total debt servicing ratio (TDSR) loan framework was announced two days later, on June 28, 2013, and kicked in the following day. Four months later, in October 2013, Koh purchased a 10,198 sq ft waterfront bungalow at Cove Way for $17.5 million ($1,716 psf).

In 2019, Koh is said to have purchased a 2,336 sq ft unit at Seascape luxury condo. She paid $3.1 million ($1,327 psf) for the seafront, three-bedroom unit, well below the $6.26 million ($2,682 psf) paid by the previous owner. It has been held for investment.

Before Koh's purchase at Cove Drive, another bungalow deal that stood out was the sale of a 19,551 sq ft vacant bungalow plot at 69 Ocean Drive for over $20 million in July. OCBC put the property up for auction twice before it found a buyer.

The first time the bungalow was up for auction by Edmund Tie was in April when it was priced at $27.1 million ($1,386 psf). It was withdrawn after failing to find a buyer. The second time it was up for auction was in May at $26.5 million ($1,355 psf). It was sold subsequently for over $20 million. The bungalow was previously owned by Su Baolin, one of the 10 arrested and charged in the $3 billion money laundering case in Singapore. Su paid over $39.3 million ($2,012 psf) for the property, based on a caveat lodged in March 2021.

Further down Ocean Drive, a Balinese-style bungalow on an 8,675 sq ft site fronting the sea changed hands for $16 million ($1,844 psf) in February, based on a caveat lodged. In December, a bungalow on a 6,555 sq ft site at Pearl Island fronting the waterway changed hands for $13.66 million ($2,084 psf). Bruce Lye, co-founder and managing partner of SRI, is said to have brokered both deals.

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Another deal transacted late in 2023 was a bungalow at Lakeshore View on an 8,401 sq ft site that changed hands for $22 million ($2,619 psf) in November.

Several other bungalows have been sold in Sentosa Cove over the past two years, but the owners have not lodged a caveat with URA. Hence, the sales are not reflected.

"Following the property cooling measures in April 2023 and the money laundering case in August last year, wealthy Singaporeans who see the value and long-term potential in Sentosa Cove have emerged as the biggest buyers of luxury homes on the island," says SRI's Lye.

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