The revival in the private residential market continues in the primary segment as 1,555 new private homes were sold in the month of April.
Despite being 12.6% lower than the sales figure in March (1,780 units sold – a 4-year high), it has still doubled the 750 private homes sold year-on-year in April 2016.
Together with executive condo (EC) units, the total number of homes sold in April will work out to be 1,926, which is still 18.3% lesser than March.
Among the top selling projects in the month of April were Seaside Residences at Siglap by Frasers Centrepoint – a total of 419 units sold, followed by Artra at Redhill by FEC and New World Development – a total of 126 units sold.
As the figure stands, Seaside Residences have sold approximately half of the 843 units available. And Artra at Redhill has also managed to clear out about one-third of its 400 units available.
Other earlier projects such as Parc Riviera by EL Development and Commonwealth Towers by Hong Leong have also contributed strong sales numbers to the April figures – selling 90 and 85 units respectively.
Based on the statistics shown, property analysts have mentioned that strong sales number in March wasn’t a true reflection of the actual market condition and was “unsustainable”. It was rather a “knee-jerk” reaction and sudden post-jubilation effect from the slight easing of the property cooling measures back in March.
It was also added that the drop in sales volume for April was mainly due to fact that the new projects launched in the month were at a higher price point as compared to the ones in March, namely Park Place Residences at PLQ and Grandeur Park Residences at Tanah Merah.
According to transaction data from the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA), units sold at Artra and Seaside Residences were mainly in the range of $1.37 million to $1.4 million, whereas units at Park Place Residences and Grandeur Park Residences were sold at median prices between $870,000 to $1.13 million. It has probably suggested that the property is still sensitive towards the overall price quantum, mainly due to the existing loan curbs and other cooling measures still in place.
Some market watchers have cautioned that sales volume and figures may slow down for the 2nd half of 2017 as lesser new launch condo projects are planned for release.
The most prominent launch of all in the 2nd half of 2017 would be Martin Modern by GuocoLand and Hundred Palms (executive condo) by Hoi Hup Realty. Both are expected to be released for sale in the 3rd quarter.