Condo resale prices up 1.9% in February

Mar 14, 2018

Values higher across all regions; number of units sold up 11.3% from January: SRX

Nisha Ramchandani


The property rebound shows no sign of easing, with resale prices of condominiums and private apartments last month surpassing the levels seen in the boom period of January 2014.

Prices in February climbed 1.9 per cent over January, according to flash estimates from SRX Property yesterday. That beat the 1.3 per cent increase from December to January, which was revised up from an earlier estimate of a 1 per cent rise. This was also the seventh consecutive month of growth for the resale property price index.

Last month's resale prices were 7.6 per cent above the level a year ago and 1 per cent higher than the peak in January 2014, said SRX.

Prices were higher across all locations. The core central region rose 1.5 per cent, the rest of the central region was up 1.7 per cent, while values in the outside central region were up 2.2 per cent month-on-month.

The increases are far more pronounced when compared with February last year: core central was up 6.2 per cent; the rest of central was ahead by a whopping 11 per cent; and outside central was 6.2 per cent higher.

In another sign of a strengthening market, the number of resale non-landed private homes sold last month jumped 11.3 per cent from January, with 1,212 units shifted, said SRX.

Resale volumes last month were 68.6 per cent higher than the paltry 719 units resold in the same month a year earlier, but nearly 41 per cent lower than the April 2010 peak.

Market watchers said the rebound has not come as a surprise.

Mr Nicholas Mak, executive director of ZACD Group, noted that rising demand for resale homes is partly driven by positive sentiment and the limited major new launches in the primary market in recent months. The large number of collective sales has also fuelled buying demand in the resale market, he added.

Mr Mak said: "The positive market sentiments in recent months are expected to keep home-buying demand healthy. This would in turn boost the buying activity in the private residential resale market."

However, he added that there could be a lag before those who have sold their homes en bloc can buy again, as they would have to wait a few months for the sales proceeds to come in.

Nonetheless, these buyers would ultimately prefer completed properties "so that they can move in almost immediately".