What Sentosa Cove is.

Sentosa Cove occupies the eastern end of Sentosa island, away from the attractions most visitors know. Universal Studios Singapore, Palawan Beach, the public beaches and most of the island’s hotels are on the west and centre of the island.

Visitors to those areas are on holiday and stay in hotels for a few nights. Residents of the Cove live in their own houses and apartments, and they can still use the beaches and attractions like anyone else on the island. That resort side is being rebuilt over the next two decades under the Greater Sentosa Master Plan, which leaves the Cove itself unchanged.

Sentosa Cove is a residential community with several thousand people living in it year-round. On 5 July 2019, Kalpana Rashiwala reported in The Business Times that a Sentosa Development Corporation spokesman put the number of residents at more than 6,000.

On a weekday, residents drive out through the gates to work and school on the mainland and return the same way in the evening. How a typical week runs is covered in Living in Sentosa Cove.

Most residents own their homes, and some rent. Tenants include holders of an Employment Pass (EP), the main work pass for professionals, holders of a Long-Term Visit Pass (LTVP), which is often issued to family members of pass holders, and people on other work passes.

A foreigner or Singapore permanent resident (PR) who buys a landed house in the Cove needs approval from the Land Dealings Approval Unit (LDAU), the Singapore Land Authority office that approves foreign purchases of landed property. That approval is granted on condition that the owner lives in the house, so the owner cannot rent it out. The rules are set out in Singapore landed for foreigners.

Residents are mostly private owners of landed houses and condominium apartments. In the Census of Population 2020, the Singapore Department of Statistics counted 1,940 residents in the Sentosa subzone, an area defined in the Urban Redevelopment Authority’s Master Plan 2019 that covers more than the Cove.

The census counts only Singapore citizens and permanent residents as residents, so foreigners without PR and tourists are not in that figure. The census count and the Sentosa Development Corporation’s estimate of more than 6,000 therefore measure different groups and should not be compared directly.

Many landed buyers in Singapore are citizens or permanent residents, and mainland landed housing is in practice bought by citizens. In our experience, buyers from China who hold Singapore PR make up a large share of landed purchases in the Cove. How the two landed markets differ is set out in Sentosa Cove and mainland landed.

Additional buyer’s stamp duty (ABSD), an extra tax on residential purchases that depends on who is buying, varies widely between these groups. For purchases on or after 27 April 2023, the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) sets ABSD at 5% for a PR buying a first residential property and 60% for a foreigner buying any residential property. The full table is on the Cove Drive listing. Rates change, so confirm them with your solicitor before making an offer.

Entry to Sentosa Cove is controlled at its own gates, separately from the checkpoint onto Sentosa island. Residents, registered guests, deliveries and contractors pass through the Cove gates, and visitors cannot walk in from the Sentosa Boardwalk or the resort side of the island.

Houses and condominiums sit behind the same gates. Land in the Cove is typically held on a 99-year lease, which means the land returns to the state when the lease ends.

Sentosa Cove has both landed houses and condominium apartments, and most of its homes are apartments. On 5 July 2019, Kalpana Rashiwala reported that the Sentosa Development Corporation counted more than 2,000 homes in the Cove, about 20% landed and about 80% condominium.

A landed house stands on its own plot of land, while a condominium is an apartment in a shared development. Landed houses in the Cove include detached bungalows, semi-detached houses and terraces, which differ in plot size, privacy and price. The house types are compared in Sentosa Cove bungalows. This guide concentrates on landed houses and does not cover condominium purchases.

Houses currently advertised on property portals are gathered on the market board.

Sentosa Golf Club’s two courses border the Cove, and the marina and the Quayside Isle dining and shopping strip are part of it. Residents use Quayside Isle for restaurants, a supermarket and everyday errands.

A house that overlooks the golf course or the water does not come with golf membership or a boat berth. Golf is arranged through Sentosa Golf Club and berths through the marina, separately from the house, and many houses have neither view.

Foreign buyers look at Sentosa Cove because it is where a foreigner may own a landed house in Singapore, while mainland landed housing is generally closed to them. The Singapore Land Authority requires a foreign person, meaning anyone who is not a Singapore citizen, to seek approval to buy landed housing anywhere in Singapore, including Sentosa Cove.

LDAU approval is granted for owner-occupation, so the buyer must live in the house and cannot rent it out. Eligibility, timing and conditions are covered in Singapore landed for foreigners, and the purchase steps in Buying in Sentosa Cove.