10 Pandemic Property Losses That Turned Into Huge Profits Later (One Could’ve Made $2.5 Million More)

Covid was an unprecedented time, and the news was dominated by naysayers and pessimists. Beyond just pessimism, of course, there were real crises in certain market segments, which saw some people scrambling for funds. The combination of the two led to some properties sold quite far below their potential value during the epidemic.

While we admit this is easy to point out in hindsight, here are some notable warning cases for future reference:

How did we derive the following?

The following are properties sold during 2020, which was the height of the pandemic. First, we filtered these down to properties which sold at a gain of under $10,000 (because after you deduct costs like interest repayments, stamp duties, etc. the net profit is almost certain to be negative). 

Next, we looked at prices that the same units sold for in the post-Covid environment (‘23 to ‘24), and looked at the price difference compared to what they sold for during Covid. 

The results were more than a little surprising, and demonstrate the risk of urgent sales:

Losses from selling during Covid

The biggest loss from here was a 2,885 sq. ft. unit at Ardmore Park, which was bought at $9.35 million, but sold for just $9.2 million during the pandemic. As of May 2024, that same unit sold for $11.85 million, so the owner who sold during Covid lost out on $2.65 million, on top of the original loss. 

The second million-dollar loss was at Sunny Palms, where a 2,971 sq. ft. unit was bought at $2.15 million, and sold at $1.8 million during Covid. In July 2023, this same unit sold for $3,088,888. The Covid-period seller lost out on $1,288,888, on top of the original loss. 

1. The post-Covid rebound was not especially specific to any region

Ardmore Park may set the wrong tone, being at the top of the list and also an Orchard area property. If you observe the rest of the list, you’ll see the highest losses (from the post-Covid rebound) weren’t just restricted to the CCR, RCR, or OCR. 

The second highest loss (Sunny Palms) was in District 15, which is in the OCR (whilst District 15 has some high-end properties, these are in the Meyer Road area, quite far from Sunny Palms). Bartley Residences and Palm Isles are in Districts 19 and 17 respectively, out in the OCR. 

At the same time, we do see some prime region properties like Reflections at Keppel Bay and The Sail @ Marina Bay further down on the list. So given the wide mix of units, no particular region was more or less susceptible to the effects.

2. The rebound was generally higher for bigger units

Where there was a pattern was in the unit sizes. You’ll notice the losses generally shrink with the unit sizes, as you go down the list (with some exceptions, like The Coast @ Sentosa Cove). 

The top 10 losers ranged from 1,711 to 3,800 sq. ft., whilst the bottom 10 ranged from 366 to 926 sq. ft.; and the majority are one-bedders which are 500 sq. ft. or smaller. 

From this, we can surmise that the post-Covid rebound was more muted for smaller one or two-bedder units, versus family-sized units of 1,000+ sq. ft. for more. This was likely due to the increased demand for bigger units post Covid-19, where we can even see this change in demand move towards new launches (bigger units now cost more than smaller ones on a per square foot basis).

3. Agents credit the phenomenon to Covid restrictions

When we brought up the fact that losses were due to urgency (e.g., owners having to sell fast due to other losses), some realtors disagreed. One executive who works for a property portal, and who used to be an agent himself, told us the following anonymously:

“Even before and after Covid – all year round, every year in Singapore – there are also urgent sales. But these types of sales can still be profitable. So why weren’t they profitable during Covid? The reason Covid was different was due to viewing restrictions. 

Especially for resale units, our hands were tied. There was no viewing allowed, and later the viewings were restricted. Also, you must consider people were scared to buy resale, because during Covid there was a lot of delay and difficulty for renovations, and the price for renovations also shot up. 

Even if the buyer didn’t have urgency, even if they were okay to wait one whole year after Covid, it was still harder to get good offers.” 

The same person says that in future, a repeat incident is less likely. This is because the industry has learned from the incident, and there’s growing use and acceptance of virtual tours and video listings; something that was slower to catch on prior to the pandemic. 

So quite possibly what we saw here won’t happen again.

The property market is all about patience, and holding power

As we’ve seen from the Covid incident, a lot of your potential gains boil down to holding power. If other circumstances force you to sell your property, there’s no guarantee you’ll be doing it at a good time. 

It’s also a good lesson in how counterintuitive the property market can be. All the predictions of property bubbles, a collapsing economy, a long recovery period for real estate, etc. seemed perfectly rational at the time; even though property prices did continue to trend upward. 

This is one advantage that people pursuing rent have, over those more focused on gains: they’re more likely to just stay calm and continue collecting their rental income, as opposed to rushing to sell before “things get worse.”