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16-05-2012, 07:35 AM
The Straits Times
May 16, 2012
New private home sales in April shoot up to 3-year high
By Esther Teo
NEW private home sales in April were the strongest in nearly three years, with 2,487 units sold.
This was due partly to the ongoing popularity of smaller, more affordable so-called shoebox apartments.
April's home sales were up 4 per cent from March, and were the highest monthly level since 2,772 units were sold in July 2009. The figures do not include executive condominiums (ECs), a public-private housing hybrid. Including ECs, buyers snapped up 2,660 homes last month.
Experts called it 'another exceptional month' after the first three months of the year recorded a robust average of more than 2,200 homes sold each month.
Average monthly new home sales from 2008 to 2011 were about 1,300 units.
Another factor driving sales is rock-bottom mortgage rates, the experts said.
They say tiny shoebox units of under 50 sq m - about 540 sq ft - typically costing under $1 million have propped up the market. Another round of cooling measures is now more likely, they added.
Units smaller than 50 sq m formed about 20 per cent of the 2,487 non-EC units sold last month, a spokesman for the Urban Redevelopment Authority said.
National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan has twice sounded warnings on the segment as an untested market. In Parliament earlier this week, he again cautioned that the Government is monitoring the trend of shoebox units and will consider more regulations if necessary.
ERA Realty key executive officer Eugene Lim noted that sales were concentrated in the $650,000 to $850,000 range, with Housing Board (HDB) buyers making up half of these purchasers. PropNex chief executive Mohamed Ismail said HDB upgraders were sustaining the private market.
'This trend of buying has not been dampened by the latest (Dec 8) round of cooling measures, which effectively stamped out short-term speculation in the private property resale market.'
May could well be another bumper month, Savills Singapore research head Alan Cheong said. But whether new home sales, excluding ECs, can exceed April's numbers will depend largely on whether bigger projects like the 920-unit Riversails and 131-unit The Sorrento make it to the launch pad by the end of the month.
More than 60 per cent - 1,514 homes - of the total sold were in suburban areas, but the city centre and city fringe regions also received a boost in sales as the price gap between mass-market and prime projects narrowed, experts noted.
Last month, buyers picked up 106 city centre homes in projects like TwentyOne Anguilla Park and 8 Bassein - almost double the 57 sold in March. City fringe sales at projects like Katong Regency and Sky Habitat surged 70 per cent to 867 units.
Jones Lang LaSalle's South-east Asia research head, Dr Chua Yang Liang, expects this trend of 'bottom-up support' of the higher-end segment to continue.
The risk of further policy intervention to maintain more stable market demand, however, cannot be ruled out, he added.
Developers of mass-market projects are likely to keep pushing out launches, given rising competition and heightened policy risks, possibly involving regulation of shoebox apartments, said Colliers International research and advisory director Chia Siew Chuin.
Top-selling projects last month included Katong Regency, which sold 244 units at a median price of $1,709 per sq ft (psf), Ripple Bay with 174 units changing hands at $876 psf, and The Hillsta with 154 units sold at $1,054 psf.
May 16, 2012
New private home sales in April shoot up to 3-year high
By Esther Teo
NEW private home sales in April were the strongest in nearly three years, with 2,487 units sold.
This was due partly to the ongoing popularity of smaller, more affordable so-called shoebox apartments.
April's home sales were up 4 per cent from March, and were the highest monthly level since 2,772 units were sold in July 2009. The figures do not include executive condominiums (ECs), a public-private housing hybrid. Including ECs, buyers snapped up 2,660 homes last month.
Experts called it 'another exceptional month' after the first three months of the year recorded a robust average of more than 2,200 homes sold each month.
Average monthly new home sales from 2008 to 2011 were about 1,300 units.
Another factor driving sales is rock-bottom mortgage rates, the experts said.
They say tiny shoebox units of under 50 sq m - about 540 sq ft - typically costing under $1 million have propped up the market. Another round of cooling measures is now more likely, they added.
Units smaller than 50 sq m formed about 20 per cent of the 2,487 non-EC units sold last month, a spokesman for the Urban Redevelopment Authority said.
National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan has twice sounded warnings on the segment as an untested market. In Parliament earlier this week, he again cautioned that the Government is monitoring the trend of shoebox units and will consider more regulations if necessary.
ERA Realty key executive officer Eugene Lim noted that sales were concentrated in the $650,000 to $850,000 range, with Housing Board (HDB) buyers making up half of these purchasers. PropNex chief executive Mohamed Ismail said HDB upgraders were sustaining the private market.
'This trend of buying has not been dampened by the latest (Dec 8) round of cooling measures, which effectively stamped out short-term speculation in the private property resale market.'
May could well be another bumper month, Savills Singapore research head Alan Cheong said. But whether new home sales, excluding ECs, can exceed April's numbers will depend largely on whether bigger projects like the 920-unit Riversails and 131-unit The Sorrento make it to the launch pad by the end of the month.
More than 60 per cent - 1,514 homes - of the total sold were in suburban areas, but the city centre and city fringe regions also received a boost in sales as the price gap between mass-market and prime projects narrowed, experts noted.
Last month, buyers picked up 106 city centre homes in projects like TwentyOne Anguilla Park and 8 Bassein - almost double the 57 sold in March. City fringe sales at projects like Katong Regency and Sky Habitat surged 70 per cent to 867 units.
Jones Lang LaSalle's South-east Asia research head, Dr Chua Yang Liang, expects this trend of 'bottom-up support' of the higher-end segment to continue.
The risk of further policy intervention to maintain more stable market demand, however, cannot be ruled out, he added.
Developers of mass-market projects are likely to keep pushing out launches, given rising competition and heightened policy risks, possibly involving regulation of shoebox apartments, said Colliers International research and advisory director Chia Siew Chuin.
Top-selling projects last month included Katong Regency, which sold 244 units at a median price of $1,709 per sq ft (psf), Ripple Bay with 174 units changing hands at $876 psf, and The Hillsta with 154 units sold at $1,054 psf.
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