The private residential market in Singapore has seemed to regain some sales momentum in the month of July as the latest sales figure has doubled June’s and set a record 1-year high.
According to statistics from the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) of Singapore, developers have moved a total of 1,091 new homes in July alone – which is a 103.5% increase for the 536 units sold in June.
Video report earlier in 2016 as property launches see signs of revival. Source – Channel NewsAsia
Although property consultants have attributed the increase in sales to the school holidays period in June – which is when buyers traditionally hold back their property purchase and developers hold back their new launches, they believe that the latest figures may have indicated that prices of new launch condo projects has bottomed out.
It’s been a gloomy 3-year period for the Singapore condo or private residential market as property buyers are being put back by the string of property cooling measures in place. However things may begin to improve as potential buyers are looking to put their capital to good use in view of the current situation which interest rates are attractively low.
New launch sales in July 2016 were mainly driven by Lake Grande by MCL Land – accounting for 42.5% of the total sales figure (selling 464 units out of 500 released units). Units were sold at an average per square foot (psf) price of $1,368.
It was added by experts that the sudden surge in the sales for new launch homes in July could be largely due to the fact buyers are looking to avoid purchasing within the Hungry Ghost Festival period in August.
Looking at the sales figures of 2016 so far, a total of close to 5,000 new homes have been sold – which is still 6% lower year-on-year.
However, market watchers have noted that the new launch condo market is displaying signs of prices stabilising as there wasn’t a significant downward adjustment in prices across the project launches.
With a couple of launches coming up for the rest of 2016, such as Parc Riviera (at West Coast Vale) by EL Development and Forest Woods (along Upper Serangoon Road) by City Developments Ltd, sales figures are expected to hover between 500 – 700 units per month till the end of the year.