The Singapore property auction market registered a significant drop in total sales value and number of transactions in the first quarter of the year, chalking up a total of 17 transactions worth only S$27.87 million, property consultants Colliers International said.
Colliers said that it was the lowest sales value garnered since the auction market rebounded in the first quarter of 2009, after the global financial crisis.
“The drastic decline in sales value seen for the quarter could be a result of the dampened sentiment experienced by the residential market as a result of the cooling measures introduced by the Government,” Ms Grace Ng, deputy managing director of Colliers International, said.
She said the introduction of the cooling measures in January this year were “deemed the stiffest the market has ever seen”, and led to a 38.4 per cent year-on-year dip in auction sales value, while the lack of high-value transactions contributed to the steep 65.5 per cent quarter-on-quarter fall in sales value.
Of the 17 properties sold, five were residential properties worth a total of S$11.08 million, five retail properties worth S$7.63 million, six industrial properties worth S$4.17 million and one development site worth S$5 million.
Sale of private residential properties at auctions was visibly thin in the quarter, with only five successful transactions totalling S$11.08 million. The figures pale in comparison to the 13 residential properties worth S$23.1 million seen in 1Q 2010 as well as the eight transactions worth S$41.56 million in 4Q 2010.
Source : Today – 1 Apr 2011