The number of private homes sold in October went down by 14.9 per cent.
Latest figures from the Urban Redevelopment Authority showed 1,387 private units were sold in October. That’s 244 units lower than the month before.
In September, 1,631 units were sold.
Developers turned cautious in October and held back on new launches – only 1,337 units were launched.
Dr Chua Yang Liang, head of research & consultancy at Jones Lang LaSalle, said: “If you look at it from a large perspective, you notice that the demand…in terms of take-up rate (is)…fairly strong, at over 90 per cent. In fact, this month, it is about 104 per cent. Over the last few months, we noticed that transactions for new launches maintained about 70 per cent, 60 per cent.”
In the prime district, sales were up by 50 per cent to 77 units.
Private homes in the city fringes increased by 60 per cent, with 417 units sold.
The mass-market homes in the outlying areas, also known as Outside Central Region (OCR), did see sales dip with, only 893 units sold.
Some analysts point out that the total number of units sold exceeding the total number launched is testimony to a strong underlying demand, which continues to benefit from the low interest rate environment, high liquidity in the market, as well as the attractiveness of real estate as a hedge against inflation.
Demand has been driven by homebuyers wanting to upgrade from their HDB flat.
Lim Yong Hock, senior vice president at PropNex, said: “The prices of an HDB flat are still at their peak. In fact, in the last quarter, we saw a 3.8 per cent increase in HDB resale prices. I think many HDB upgraders will be taking this opportunity to upgrade to a private property. And the prices for land sales have been kept quite stable over the last couple of months. ”
Market observers forecast that developers may hold off launches till the year-end festivities, maintaining prices at current levels.
This could mean new homes sales could cross 16,000 units this year.
Source : Channel NewsAsia – 15 Nov 2011