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October new home sales soar 60% to 3-month high

SINGAPORE — New private home sales in the Republic rebounded from their lowest this year to a three-month high in October, driven mainly by two new launches during the month, but analysts expect market sentiment to stay soft.

Principal Garden at Prince Charles Crescent sold 113 out of the 200 units launched. Artist's impresssion from principalgarden.com.sg

Principal Garden at Prince Charles Crescent sold 113 out of the 200 units launched. Artist's impresssion from principalgarden.com.sg

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SINGAPORE — New private home sales in the Republic rebounded from their lowest this year to a three-month high in October, driven mainly by two new launches during the month, but analysts expect market sentiment to stay soft.

Developers sold 546 private residences last month, up 60.1 per cent from this year’s low of 341 sales in September, data by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) showed today (Nov 16). However, compared with October 2014, last month’s sales were 30.4 per cent lower. In terms of launches, the URA data showed that developers released 434 units into the market in October, up 11 per cent from the 391 units in the previous month. Compared with a year ago, last month’s launches were 35.8 per cent lower.

“Notwithstanding the slight improvement in private home sales in October over the previous month, the market generally remains subdued as the effects of the cooling measures have been compounded by the economic slowdown and impending interest rate hike in the US,” said Mr Ong Teck Hui, JLL’s national director of research and consultancy.

The top two best-selling projects last month were those that made their debut in the market: Principal Garden at Prince Charles Crescent sold 113 out of its 200 launched units at a median price of S$1,633 per square foot (psf), and Thomson Impressions at Lorong Puntong, which offloaded 80 out of the 150 units launched at S$1,399 psf, URA data showed.

The two projects, both located within the city fringes, helped the Rest of Central Region (RCR) to dominate sales in October with 280 transactions. This was followed by the suburbs, or Outside Central Region (OCR), with 241 units sold and the city centre, or Core Central Region (CCR), which registered 25 sales. The RCR also saw the most number of units launched last month with 351 units, ahead of the 78 private homes launched in the OCR and five in the CCR. 

The latest set of URA figures bring this year’s sales to around 6,600 units to date and analysts have projected annual sales volume this year to range between 7,000 and 8,000 units. Mr Eugene Lim, key executive of ERA said the anticipated launch of The Poiz Residences in Potong Pasir may bring some excitement to the market in the coming weeks.

Beyond 2015, sales volume are likely to stay tepid as there is a lower supply of new residential projects next year, noted Mr Nicholas Mak, executive director at SLP International Property Consultants. “However, if the government were to relax the property market curbs next year, it could give the industry a very much needed shot in the arm. Depending on the timing and magnitude of the policy changes, the effects could be an increase in the transaction volume, while the effects on prices could be more muted,” he said.

In the EC segment, developers sold 276 units in October, 4 per cent fewer than the previous month. The fall in sales was in line with the decline in launches, which stood at 505 units last month compared with 525 units in September. The sole EC launch last month was The Criterion, located on Yishun Street 51, which offloaded 41 of its 505 units at a median price of S$805 psf.

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