Skip to main content

Advertisement

Advertisement

Private-home sales drop to lowest this year

SINGAPORE — The private housing market remained subdued last month, with new home sales falling to the lowest level this year, as developers held back new offerings during the Hungry Ghost Festival and focused on clearing unsold units from the previous launches.

TODAY file photo

TODAY file photo

SINGAPORE — The private housing market remained subdued last month, with new home sales falling to the lowest level this year, as developers held back new offerings during the Hungry Ghost Festival and focused on clearing unsold units from the previous launches.

A total of 432 new private homes, excluding executive condominiums, were sold last month, 15.1 per cent lower than the revised 509 units transacted in July, data from the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) showed yesterday. This is the weakest sales volume since December, when only 259 homes were sold.

The number of private homes which were released into the market also fell last month to 351 — all of which were from previously-launched projects — from 441 units in the previous month. This was also the lowest since December, when 118 units were launched, the data showed.

Analysts said the decline in both sales and launches was no surprise given that the seasonal lull came against the backdrop of weak buying sentiment. This is due to the repeated rounds of property cooling measures and loan curbs.

Mr Mohamed Ismail, chief executive officer of PropNex Realty, said: “There are three reasons for the subdued buying sentiment. Firstly, it coincided with the Hungry Ghost Month, which is typically seen by many to be an inauspicious time to make home purchases. Secondly, there was a lack of mass market launches, with developers holding back their launches for a later date. Furthermore, with loan curbs still in place, home buyers are likely to be selective and cautious for the remainder of the year.”

Wheelock Properties’ The Panorama, which consists of 698 units and is located at Ang Mo Kio, was the bestseller of the month with 40 homes sold at a median price of S$1,249 psf. Coco Palms at Pasir Ris Grove, jointly developed by City Developments, Hong Leong Holdings and Hong Realty, came in second with 23 units sold at a median price of S$1,046 psf.

The two projects helped the Outside Central Region (OCR), or the suburbs, remain the most active geographical segment with 223 transactions, compared with 165 sales in the Rest of Central Region (RCR), or city fringes, and 44 in the Core Central Region (CCR), or city centre.

“Such a distinguished performance of the OCR is mainly attributed to the roll-out of new units in several highly sought-after projects in the region, namely The Panorama, Coco Palms and Lakeville,” said Ms Alice Tan, Knight Frank’s director and head of consultancy and research.

Analysts said developers are expected to launch more projects this month and next month ahead of the year-end lull. However, sales for the whole year are not expected to rise above the 10,000-unit mark.

From January to last month, total new private-home sales stood at 5,464 units. This was fewer than half of the 11,420 units sold in the same period last year.

Looking ahead, Mr Nicholas Mak, executive director at SLP International Property Consultants, expects developers’ sales for the whole year to hit between 8,300 and 9,100 units, based on a healthy turnout at The Highline Residences and Marina One Residences preview.*

 

*Clarification: In an earlier version of this story, Mr Nicholas Mak, executive director at SLP International Property Consultants, was quoted as saying Marina One Residences was launched this month. The developer, M+S Pte Ltd, has clarified that the project has yet to be launched, but the show gallery was opened for private preview last weekend.

 

Read more of the latest in

Advertisement

Advertisement

Stay in the know. Anytime. Anywhere.

Subscribe to get daily news updates, insights and must reads delivered straight to your inbox.

By clicking subscribe, I agree for my personal data to be used to send me TODAY newsletters, promotional offers and for research and analysis.