New private home sales slump 20.2% in June

Sales of new private homes slumped 20.2 per cent year-on-year in June, according to data released by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) on Monday (Jul 16).

Excluding executive condominiums (ECs), developers sold 654 private homes in June compared with 820 units in the same month last year. This was also a 41.7 per cent decrease from the 1,122 private homes sold in May – a nine-month high fuelled by a deluge of new launches.

Including ECs, 706 units were sold in June, a drop from the 1,259 sold the previous month and 1,064 homes sold in June last year.

In June, developers launched 726 units, down 41.7 per cent from May but up 356.6 per cent from June last year.

The Outside Central Region proved most popular with both buyers and developers last month, with 474 units launched and 374 homes sold.

This compares with the 67 units launched and 66 sold in the Core Central Region, and 185 units launched and 214 sold in the Rest of Central Region.

The private residential projects that sold the most units in June were Margaret Ville (121 units), Affinity at Serangoon (107 units), Twin Vew (64 units), The Gardens Residences (64 units) and 120 Grange (42 units).

Earlier this month, the Government announced new property cooling measures, including a 5 percentage point hike in Additional Buyer’s Stamp Duty (ABSD) rates for citizens and permanent residents buying second and subsequent homes, as well as a 5 percentage point tightening for loan-to-value limits for all housing loans granted by financial institutions.

The measures are expected to have the largest impact on the en bloc market as well as the private residential market, analysts have told Channel NewsAsia. Top executives from some of Singapore’s biggest developers have also said the local property market is likely to see some slowing on the back of the surprise cooling measures, although a crash is unlikely.

Huttons Asia’s head of research Lee Sze Teck said 3,508 units were launched and 4,000 units sold in the first half of 2018, compared with 3,960 units launched and 6,039 units sold in the first half of 2017.

Mr Lee said Riverfront Residences, Park Colonial, Stirling Residences and Daintree Residences will be launched for sale in July.

He noted that after more than 1,000 units were estimated to have been sold at Riverfront Residences, Park Colonial and Stirling Residences in one night after the new cooling measures were announced, double-digit sales continued to be registered at the three projects.

This is “a testament to the adequate liquidity and fundamentally healthy demand in the market”, Mr Lee said. Looking forward, he said he expects developers to sell around 1,500 units this month.

Source: Channel NewsAsia – 16 Jul 2018

Join The Discussion

Compare listings

Compare