Owners at St Regis Residences have spent approximately S$12 million renewing their development’s common areas. The expenditure raises a question that matters well beyond luxury property: how much should owners reinvest in an ageing condominium to keep it attractive?

Singapore has precedents, including Ardmore Park’s 2020 pool renovation and Nassim Mansion’s reported S$8 million refurbishment. But spending money on an estate and proving that the expenditure increased resale values are different exercises.

For St Regis, the strongest case is value preservation and better everyday use. Publicly available transaction summaries do not yet establish a distinct price premium attributable to the works.

What the St Regis project involved

According to EdgeProp’s October 8 report, the 173-unit development undertook an enhancement costing about S$10 million before consultancy fees, or approximately S$12 million including them. Its sinking fund initially held around S$1 million; it subsequently raised about S$6 million over a year.

Construction began in February 2023. Formal handover took place in August 2024, with rectification continuing into 2025. The news therefore concerns a completed programme, rather than a newly announced project.

The changes combined visual renewal with practical improvements: reorganised vehicle access, refreshed lobbies, a larger gym and conversion of the cigar room into a library with workspaces.

For buyers, this distinction matters. Attractive finishes can improve first impressions, while circulation and usable facilities affect the experience of living in a development. A successful renewal programme should address both.

What S$69,000 per apartment actually means

Dividing S$12 million by 173 apartments gives approximately S$69,364 per unit.

That is a simple cost benchmark. It does not establish what each owner paid. Actual contributions depend on the funding arrangements and how costs are allocated between units, including their share values. The reported S$6 million fundraising also should not be confused with the full project cost.

To put the benchmark in perspective:

Assumed apartment value	S$69,364 as a proportion of value
S$4 million	1.73%
S$6 million	1.16%
S$8 million	0.87%

These are illustrative calculations, not valuations or forecasts.

For an assumed S$6 million home, preventing a 2% deterioration in value relative to an otherwise comparable, well-maintained property would preserve S$120,000. That hypothetical amount exceeds the equal-per-unit cost benchmark.

However, this does not prove that the St Regis expenditure paid for itself. It explains why owners of expensive apartments may consider substantial collective expenditure economically reasonable even when they expect only a modest effect on market value.

Singapore has precedents for substantial condo renewal

Ardmore Park provides a dated earlier example. Contractor Innovez Engineering completed its stainless-steel pool upgrade in 2020. Its account describes renovation of existing facilities using a system designed to reduce demolition and disruption. This predates the start of St Regis’s construction works.

The comparison is useful because it shows that an established luxury condominium can renew important shared facilities while remaining occupied. Its scope was narrower than the St Regis programme, and the contractor’s account does not disclose a comparable total budget.

Nassim Mansion offers a substantial owner-funded comparison. EdgeProp reported in March 2026 that owners of the 72-unit freehold estate had spent approximately S$8 million on upgrading, including renewal of its brick façade. That works out to roughly S$111,111 per apartment on an equal-unit basis. The report does not give a precise completion date, so it establishes a completed comparable project without proving that its works preceded St Regis’s.

Development	Documented renewal	Timing established by source	Reported cost
Ardmore Park	Pool upgrade	Completed in 2020	Not disclosed
Nassim Mansion	Refurbishment including brick façade	Completed by the March 2026 report	About S$8 million
St Regis Residences	Common areas and facilities	August 2024 handover; rectification into 2025	About S$12 million

The budgets should not be read as a ranking of value for money. Estate size, technical condition, design requirements and the extent of the work differ.

There is also an overseas parallel. In December 2018, Forbes reported a planned renovation of up to US$8 million at Miami Beach’s Continuum, covering the entrance, access road and landscaping to improve its competitive position. That report documents the plan and rationale, rather than confirmation of completion.

The resale figures do not establish a renovation premium

An initial comparison can use 2022, the year before construction began, and 2025, the first full calendar year after handover. The latter still overlaps with rectification, and buyers could have anticipated the upgrades before construction.

Summaries of URA-based transactions show the following annual median prices:

Development	2022 median psf	2025 median psf	Change	Recorded sales in 2022 / 2025
St Regis Residences	S$2,389	S$2,524	+5.7%	5 / 10
Cuscaden Residences	S$2,495	S$2,625	+5.2%	2 / 5
Ardmore Park	S$3,900	S$4,264	+9.3%	8 / 5

Sources: URA

On this measure, St Regis improved at roughly the same pace as Cuscaden Residences and less than Ardmore Park. The figures provide no obvious evidence of exceptional price growth following the upgrade.

However, these are project medians from small samples, not repeat sales of identical apartments. Unit size, floor, facing and internal condition can change the result. The comparison projects also differ in tenure, grounds, service offering, and maintenance history; they are contextual benchmarks, not controlled comparisons.

A better assessment would match similar units over time, account for wider market movements and examine rents and vacancy alongside resale prices. An upgrade might improve rental appeal or shorten marketing periods without immediately boosting the estate’s median psf.

A resale loss does not prove the upgrade failed

EdgeProp reported that a 2,142 sq ft St Regis apartment sold for S$5.36 million in March 2025, against S$6.96 million in September 2007. The S$1.6 million difference illustrates how an owner’s original entry price can dominate the eventual resale outcome.

That sale occurred after formal handover, but it cannot establish the renovation’s effect. The relevant comparison would be the apartment’s sale price against what it might have achieved at the same time without the estate improvements.

An owner can incur a loss against a historic purchase price while still benefiting from renewal that prevents an even larger discount. Similarly, a profitable resale does not prove the refurbishment caused the gain.

The lesson for buyers of older condominiums

An older condominium’s asking price needs to be considered alongside its future capital expenditure.

A beautifully renovated apartment still depends on shared lifts, waterproofing, drainage and facilities. Buyers should therefore review the estate’s financial statements, recent meeting minutes, planned major works and any approved additional contributions.

The useful question is whether the development has a credible programme for maintaining and renewing what residents use. A low monthly contribution is attractive only if the estate can still fund its obligations. Conversely, high expenditure deserves scrutiny: owners should understand what it fixes, how long the improvements should last and what further work remains.

For St Regis, the S$12 million programme demonstrates owners’ willingness to reinvest in the development. Its financial success will require more evidence over time. Its broader lesson is already clear: the quality of an ageing condominium depends partly on the collective decisions owners make long after the developer has left.

Article contributed by Jerry Wong.

Jerry Wong is a realtor at Propnex Realty, bringing a rich background in interior and lighting design to his work. He loves exploring diverse spaces and observing the transformative power of real estate. Beyond his professional role, Jerry finds his greatest fulfillment in connecting people with the right properties, gaining immense satisfaction from helping clients achieve their dreams.