Sales of new private homes up last month
Year-end holiday period did not dampen interest as 1,147 units were sold
Sales of new private homes picked up strongly last month despite the start of the year-end holiday period and amid a property glut, data showed yesterday.
Developers sold 1,147 units last month - excluding executive condominiums (ECs) - 23.2 per cent more than October and 4.5 per cent fewer than November last year.
If ECs are included, 1,168 units were sold in November, a 21.9 per cent increase from October but 3 per cent lower than a year ago, the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) data noted.
Developers launched 740 private homes for sale last month, down 17 per cent from October and 44.9 per cent fewer than the 1,342 in November last year. There were no ECs launched last month.
November's take-up was led by projects in suburban areas, known as outside central region (OCR). There were 608 sales here, followed by 351 in the city fringes or rest of central region and 188 in prime areas or core central region.
The best-seller was the 680-unit Sengkang Grand Residences, which launched last month. The 99-year leasehold condo next to Buangkok MRT Station sold 235 of the 280 units offered at a median price of $1,741 per sq ft (psf).
The 296-unit One Holland Village Residences in a prime district sold 87 of the 126 units launched at a median price of $2,606 psf.
Three previously launched projects did well last month - Parc Esta with 102 sales, Jadescape with 60 and Parc Botannia at 59.
There have been 9,547 units, excluding ECs, sold so far this year, out of 10,751 launched. This already exceeds the 8,795 units moved for the whole of last year.
"We estimate that between 9,500 and 10,000 units could be sold this year," said Ms Christine Sun, head of research at OrangeTee & Tie.
"We anticipate that the next wave of inbound capital may continue to enter Singapore's property market next year with more Chinese capital flowing south."
Ms Sun added that mortgage rates may remain low or go lower next year, which would help housing demand to "cruise" at current level. "As such, we estimate that between 9,000 and 9,800 new homes excluding ECs could be transacted in 2020," she said.
Mr Desmond Sim, CBRE's research head for South-east Asia said most new launches this year have had a take-up of less than 50 per cent, so developers are expected to focus on clearing existing inventory while remaining prudent in land bidding.
URA data for November also shows that the accumulated number of new private residential units launched but unsold stands at 4,375, or 4,748 if ECs are included.
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