Private home sales down 19% on-month to 1,196 units in Feb
March 16, 2010
SINGAPORE: Private home sales kept up their momentum in February, with 1,196 units changing hands.
This is down by some 280 units or 19 per cent from January, where the spike in transaction volumes prompted the government to introduce more anti-speculative measures.
But February’s figure is still above market expectations. Analysts had earlier projected sales to range between 800 and 1,000 units.
Analysts said demand for new homes remains strong, despite more government measures to cool the market last month.
Data released by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) showed that new private homes in the city continue to be popular.
The Altez at Tanjong Pagar was a star performer last month, with 150 units sold at a median price of over S$1,800 per square foot. Another project that did well was Waterscape at Cavenagh Road with 82 units transacted.
All in, new homes in the prime district accounted for 521 units of total sales.
Mass market projects were also popular, with over 560 deals done in February.
“We’ve seen demand in that area - outside core central region - increase on a month-on-month basis of about 31 per cent, so that is quite an unexpected phenomenon. A large part of the demand came from The Estuary and that’s about over 300 units sold out of 400 units being launched,” said Chua Yang Liang, head of Research (Southeast Asia) at Jones Lang LaSalle.
Market watchers said the buying sentiment remains strong despite the anti-speculative measures introduced by the government recently.
They said that is because home buyers are still confident about the economic prospects of Singapore, job security and the positive spin offs from the new two integrated resorts.
Some analysts said March could see sales volumes above 1,000 units. That could bring first quarter sales to about 4,000 units. This is on the back of brisk take-up for new projects like The Vision at West Coast and upcoming launches at Sentosa Cove.
Higher-value projects could also lift home prices ahead.
Tay Huey Ying, director of Research & Advisory at Colliers International, said “Of late, we have seen how people continue to snap up properties even at record prices.
“I think if this continues to persist, we could potentially be looking at a property bubble forming because home prices appear to be running ahead of economic fundamentals. And I think the government should continue more demand side measures.”
These includes fine tuning current measures or introducing a capital gains tax.
Last month, developers placed 1,161 units for sale. And analysts said more could be on the way because of strong demand and to pre-empt more market cooling measures.
Source: Channel NewsAsia - Private home sales down 19% on-month to 1,196 units in Feb - channelnewsasia.com
September figures show continued softness in private home sales
October 22, 2008
SINGAPORE: Sales of private homes in Singapore improved 17.5 per cent in September, compared to the previous month.
But analysts said the pickup fell short of expectations, given the low base in August caused by the Hungry Ghost Festival. The seventh month of the Lunar calendar is traditionally regarded as an inauspicious period and buyers usually refrain from making purchases during that time.
Almost 300 per cent more units were launched for sale in September, compared to August. Property developers sold 376 units in September, just 51 units more than the preceding month. Nonetheless, some analysts see something to cheer about in the data.
Ku Swee Yong, director, Marketing & Business Development, Savills (Singapore), said: “I already see that as a positive (sign) because in September, the stock market beat the whole market down, so many investors were spooked.”
The stock of private residential properties has been building up in the past year and was compounded by a large oversupply in September.
As buyers become more cautious in light of the economic downturn, prices are expected to fall.
Nicholas Mak, director, Consultancy & Research, Knight Frank, said: “Whatever gains made in the first half of this year will probably be lost by Christmas. Depending on how the global economic and financial situation plays out, I think there’s still a lot of uncertainty and turmoil out there.
“There is a possibility we could see further weakness in home prices in 2009, especially if the Singapore economy were to slip into a prolonged recession.
“At the moment, we haven’t seen some of the major bad news like massive retrenchments or fall in salary levels. If such a thing were to happen, we could see people giving up homes or downgrading.”
Knight Frank said bad economic outlook could result in a double-digit fall in home prices in 2009. But others are not as pessimistic.
Ku said: “Private residential prices in mass market will still hold up very well, probably for the next 18 months… we believe so because the demand for public housing is still strong.
“In the third quarter, HDB price index for resale HDB (flats) still managed to climb 4.2 per cent. That should support mass market prices for HDB upgraders very well.”
However, all agree that within the private residential sphere, luxury properties will bear the brunt of price pressures.
“For luxury and mid-tier residential market, we think that over the next 18 months, we might see about 5, 10 per cent drop. For the very luxurious properties, about 15 per cent drop in prices,” Ku added.
Luxury properties tend to attract speculators who have retreated from the market in the current unpredictable financial environment.
Source: http://www.channelnewsasia.com/cna/cgi-bin/search/search_7days.pl?status=&search=property&id=383073