Last month’s figures from the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) have shown that property developers sold a total number of 1,780 new homes in March 2017 alone.
It is the highest number of sales witnessed in a single month since June 2013 (1,806 units were sold), when the primary market was still buoyant just before the introduction of the Total Debt Servicing Ratio (TDSR) at the end that same month.
The total sales figure in March 2017 is almost 82% higher than February’s figure of 979 new homes sold, and an 111% surge from 843 units year-on-year in the same month.
The overwhelming primary home sales were backed by 2 successful new launch projects – Grandeur Park Residences at Tanah Merah and Park Place Residences at PLQ (located at Paya Lebar central), as well as the recent tweaks to the government’s property cooling measures on 10 March 2017.
Not only in the primary market segment, there was also a sharp increase of more than 50% in private home sales as compared to the previous month and the similar month in the previous year within the resale market.
This includes developers’ sales in their projects which have already delicensed.
According to market watchers, the recent strong responses received for land tenders by property developers have likely brought light into the property market and has given the impression that the market conditions have hit a turning point.
The latest data have shown that a total of 3,141 new homes were sold during the 1st Quarter of 2017, up from the 2,316 units sold in the 4th quarter of 2016 and the 1,419 units sold during the 1st Quarter of 2016.
Sales in 1Q 2017 were, in fact, the highest since the 2nd Quarter of 2013, when a total of 4,538 units were sold.
In the executive condo (EC) segment, developers managed to sell a total of 578 units last month, which is 75% increase from the 329 units sold in February.
Property consultants are expecting home sales to remain relatively strong at around 1,000 units per month with a couple of new launches in the pipeline for 2017, such as Martin Modern by GuocoLand, and another project at Bukit Batok West Avenue 6.