New private-home sales up 39% in Nov

SINGAPORE — Sales of new private homes jumped 39 per cent last month from October, mainly due to the high take-up at the newly launched The Poiz Residences in Potong Pasir, a showing analysts said signalled steady underlying demand for projects that are in good locations and attractively priced.

Transaction volumes are likely to pick up next year, the analysts said, with prices expected to drop as developers are under pressure to offload unsold homes to avoid paying the Additional Buyer’s Stamp Duty (ABSD). Developers will be subject to an ABSD — introduced in Dec 2011 — if they fail to complete a residential project and sell all its units within five years.

Developers sold a total of 759 private homes last month, up from the 548 units sold in October, data from the Urban Redevelopment Authority showed today (Dec 15). Compared with the same month last year, the performance was much better, with new private-home sales up 79 per cent. 

“This was a pleasant boost for the market as we tend to see seasonally lower primary market activity for the November and December period. The good results from the launch of The Poiz Residences show that buyers are still very much into the market for well-located projects that are priced attractively and reasonably. Market demand remains present but selective,” said Mr Eugene Lim, key executive officer at property agency ERA.

Home seekers will continue to remain selective, with a project’s location and price points as the main drivers of demand, said Mr Mohamed Ismail, chief executive of real-estate agency PropNex.

The Poiz Residences, a mixed development next to the Potong Pasir MRT Station, was the best-selling project last month, with 277 units sold out of the 350 residential units launched, at a median price of S$1,440 per square foot. 

This was followed by the previously-launched Sky Vue in Bishan, and Principal Garden at Prince Charles Crescent, with sales of 59 units and 45 units, respectively.

The three projects, all located within the city fringes, helped the Rest of Central Region (RCR) to account for the bulk of sales with 504 transactions. The Outside Central Region (OCR), or suburbs, accounted for 233 units, while the Core Central Region (CCR), or city centre, rounded up the balance of 22 units.

Ms Christine Li, director of research at property firm Cushman & Wakefield, said: “Year-to-date new home sales are at 7,144 units. The performance of 2015 is akin to 2014, though the volume had a slight uptick probably due to one or two best-selling projects such as High Park Residences and Poiz,” said. 

For the full year, analysts expect the total sales volume to range between 7,350 and 7,500 units.

For next year, Ms Li expects developers to sell more homes — about 7,500 to 8500 units, with prices falling up to 8 per cent because of the imminent ABSD.

“2016 could paint a very different picture because the pressure is now on developers to clear their stocks in view of the ABSD, which will kick in towards the end of 2016... The rule says that developers who do not complete the projects and sell all the units within five years of the acquisition date will be slapped with a 10 per cent ABSD on land prices,” she said.

In the Executive Condominium (EC) segment, a total of 186 units were sold last month, 32 per cent lower than the 275 units transacted in the preceding month, and 78 per cent lower than a year ago, because of a lack of new launches. 

The Brownstone at Canberra Drive chalked up the highest sales for ECs last month, with 33 units sold.