New for private home sales jumped by almost 2.5 times in November as property developers stepped up to make up for sales numbers, while some others held back their launches in the previous month.
A total of 1,198 private residential units were sold in November – up by the 487 units sold in October. There is also an increase year-on-year as the sales number in November 2018 is up by 1.5 times the amount sold in November 2017 (788 units were sold during that month).
The following 7 private residential projects were launched and the total number of units sold during the month of November 2018.
It was noted that there will be a significant amount of new launch condo projects being released into the property market next year (as many as 35 projects) and some developers felt the pressure to release their projects earlier this year instead of next, in order to avoid the risk of an aggravated supply situation.
Thus, property developers are looking to end 2018 on a high and sell as many units as possible amid economic uncertainties.
Last month’s top-selling project was MCL Land’s Parc Esta, situated along Sims Drive and opposite Eunos MRT station. A total of 348 units were sold at an average per square foot (psf) price of $1,699.
This was followed by City Development Ltd‘s Whistler Grand (located at West Coast Vale) with 219 units sold in total, at an average psf of $1,352.
It was noted that November saw the best performance in terms of launches and sales for the year of 2018, disregarding the numbers in July (2,239 units were launched and 1,724 were sold) as mainly affected by the announcement of new property curbs. Many projects, such as Riverfront Residences, Stirling Residences, and Park Colonial were trying to beat the effective date of curbs during then.
Based on the sales number accumulated within the first 11 months of 2018, property developers have sold a total of 8,644 units and analysts expect it to reach the 9,000-mark before the year-end. It was mentioned that the total figure for 2017 was 10,566.
Despite having a good month in November, market watchers believe that the situation ahead will remain challenging for property developers as the buying demand will likely remain subdued by the property curbs and a slowdown in Singapore’s economy for 2019.
In addition, interest rates have also been moving upwards – which will make things even tougher for developers.
As a result, some analysts said that a few developers may come under pressure to lower their prices or take a look-and-see approach for the future launches as time elapses for them to meet the 5-year sales deadline stipulated by the government.