Singapore private home sales up 18% in October - Channel NewsAsia

Property developers sold 765 new private homes last month, up from the 648 units sold in September, according to the Urban Redevelopment Authority.

SINGAPORE: The private housing market picked up pace in October, with sales of new homes rising 18 per cent from the previous month.

Excluding executive condominiums (ECs), developers sold 765 new units last month, up from the 648 units sold in September, data from the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) showed on Monday (Nov 17). Including ECs, 855 units were sold in October, up from 707 units in September.

The improved sales came as more units were launched for sale. A total of 649 units were launched in October, up from the 514 units launched in the previous month.

Sales in October were driven by the newly-launched Marina One Residences. The project sold about 330 units - about half of October's sales volume - at a median price of S$2,228 per square foot (psf).

DEVELOPERS CLEARING EXISTING STOCK

Older projects Coco Palms and Lakeville also managed to clear units without developers having to offer discounts. Coco Palms cleared 34 units at a median price of S$1,039 psf, while Lakeville sold 32 units at a median price of S$1,340 psf.

Marina One Residences was the only new project launched last month, and property watchers said this is a sign that developers are focusing on clearing old stock.

According to URA, there were 19,270 unsold units in the market.

ERA Realty's key executive officer, Eugene Lim, said: "The loan curbs and ABSD (Additional Buyer's Stamp Duty) framework have somewhat dried up buying momentum in the market and developers would prefer to focus on clearing existing stock rather than introduce more new stock into the market."

Developers were also launching their projects in phases, noted Desmond Sim, head of research at CBRE Singapore. He added: "Going forward, developers will be eye-balling each other, timing themselves accordingly by putting slow launches into the market so that it will be slowly absorbed and not overcrowd the market."

However, a further spike in buying activity is expected in November as ECs make a comeback after almost a year. Already, all 546 units at the Lake Life EC have been sold.

- CNA/cy/ac

Source: Channel NewsAsia (17 Nov 2014)