Demand for new private homes in Singapore continued to increase in February, after rising sharply in January.
The Urban Redevelopment Authority said excluding executive condominiums, 2,413 new private homes were sold in February, up by about 29 per cent from the previous month.
In January, 1,872 new units changed hands, almost three times more than December’s sales.
For February, the best selling projects were mostly located in the suburban areas.
The top seller was Parc Rosewood with 380 units sold.
Guillemard Edge, which is located in the city fringe, also performed well with sales of 275 units.
Meanwhile, home buyers also snapped up executive condominium (EC) units.
257 units of ECs have been sold at Twin Waterfalls, 187 units at The Tampines Trilliant and 186 units at The Rainforest.
Including ECs, a total of 3,138 units were sold last month, up 51 per cent compared to January.
Analysts said low interest rates are fuelling demand for private properties in Singapore.
They also expect demand to hold up in March and said sales will remain healthy going forward.
Chua Chor Hoon, head of Asia Pacific research at DTZ, said: “After the December cooling measures, in January and February, you see that sales volume has in fact increased a lot more. And if it continues to be at a high level, say above 1,500 units per month excluding ECs, then it is very likely that the government will come up with more cooling measures.”
Although analysts do not rule out further property cooling measures from the government, some said the likely impact this time will be muted.
Alan Cheong, research head at Savills Singapore, said: “It is not like a sudden surprise; after five rounds, it has come to a conclusion that whenever markets are strong, there is a serial tendency to impose more and more measures. That impact itself, the moment you expect it to happen, it is not a shocker. It will not have a great impact on the negative side. ”
Some analysts also observed that majority of home buyers in the suburbs have been first-time buyers or second-home local investors. And as such, they are not affected by the additional buyer stamp duty.
Meanwhile, experts have said that healthy demand does not necessarily mean that private home prices will go up.
Ong Teck Hui, executive director and research head at Credo Real Estate, said: “Prices are likely to stay stable, because there is a huge amount of supply coming on. If you look at GLS (Government Land Sales), there have been quite a number of sites that have been sold already, and queuing up to be launched.
“With that in mind, I think the developer will not be able to up the pricing. So long as the demand remains buoyant, it will keep the prices stable. Because at that price level, they are able to move the units.”
Source : Channel NewsAsia – 15 Mar 2012