There has been a 38.5 per cent increase in the number of properties put up for auction in the first half of 2015 compared to the previous six months, according to a report by Colliers International.
The report said there were 378 listings. Of these, 105 – or nearly 30 per cent – were mortgagee sales, 10 per cent higher compared to the second half of 2014, when there were 95 mortgagee sales. The remaining were owner sales.
Colliers International said the bulk of the listings, at 65 per cent, are non-landed private residential homes, while another 14.3 per cent were landed houses.
Among them was a Good Class Bungalow (GCB) site at Binjai Rise, the first since 2007 that such a GCB was put up for auction sale by the bank, according to Colliers.
The industrial sector accounted for another 15 per cent of the listings, while retail sector took the remaining at 6.7 per cent.
More large apartments – those bigger than 1,500 square feet – have also been put up by mortgagees for auction sale in the past one year. In just the first half of this year, there were 37 of them, compared to 51 in the whole of last year and less than 10 in the three years before.
The firm said owners of large apartments are finding it challenging to sell them, as the large floor unit area translates into a higher price quantum.
“Some of these larger units are two-storey penthouses with large open terraces or balconies and a private swimming pool,” said Deputy Managing Director of Colliers International Grace Ng.
The report also showed that buying interest remained high, with a total of 17 properties sold at auction in the first half of this year, amounting to S$45.14 million – about the same amount raked in during the second half of last year, and about S$18 million more than the value in the first half of 2014.
“Buying interest for properties put up for auction sale is expected to remain high. This will be especially so for non-landed homes in the prime residential districts of 9, 10 and 11, where prices have shown relatively steeper correction in the last two years,” said Ms Ng.
Still, Colliers said properties with price tags in the region of S$1.5 million or lower had been more popular among buyers.
Source : Channel NewsAsia – 30 Jun 2015