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16-10-12, 12:05
http://www.straitstimes.com/premium/top-the-news/story/sales-new-private-homes-hit-3-year-high-20121016
Sales of new private homes hit 3-year high
Last month's figure up 84%; analysts expect lower volume after loan curbs
Published on Oct 16, 2012
By Amanda Tan
NEW private home sales jumped by about 84 per cent last month compared with August, to 2,621 units sold, the highest monthly figure since July 2009.
The latest spike in sales came as the National Development Ministry revealed that 26,800 HDB flats, 22,400 non-landed private homes and 1,100 landed homes are set to be completed in 2014.
This is a sharp rise in supply compared with the 11,300 HDB flats, 12,500 non-landed private homes and 700 landed homes due for completion this year.
The figures were part of a parliamentary written response to Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC MP Gan Thiam Poh yesterday.
The latest sales figures for last month, released by the Urban Redevelopment Authority yesterday, pre-date new cooling measures unveiled earlier this month, which included loan term curbs.
One reason for last month's surge was that August's figure of only 1,427 units - a 27 per cent drop from July's number - was partly due to the inauspicious Hungry Ghost Festival.
But the sharp rise is less dramatic when executive condominiums (ECs) are factored in. When EC sales are included, last month's figure of 2,771 units sold falls short of the 3,138 homes moved in February.
ERA Realty key executive officer Eugene Lim noted that last month's 2,621 non-EC sales are the highest since July 2009's peak of 2,772 units.
Knight Frank research head Png Poh Soon said the 17,913 units sold by developers in the first nine months of the year have already topped the previous full-year record in 2010 of 16,292. He expects that this year's total could hit 21,000 units.
Mr Lee Sze Teck, senior manager of training, research and consultancy at Dennis Wee Group, said another reason for the pick-up in sales could be the narrowing gap between resale and new prices.
Data from the Singapore Real Estate Exchange Residential Property Flash Report found resale prices of non-landed private homes had some of their strongest gains in the past year last month, up 2.5 per cent from August. In contrast, average prices in the primary new sales market fell 2.2 per cent.
The 748-unit eCO, along Bedok South Avenue 3, was the top performer, selling 402 units of the 513 launched in the month.
Last month's take-up rate exceeds the 2,224 new private units launched - a sign that "demand is still healthy enough to absorb the new supply", SLP International research head Nicholas Mak said.
Mr Lim reckons this month's volume will be lower, owing to the recent measures. But Savills research head Alan Cheong tips strong sales of up to 2,251 units excluding ECs, with strong response to projects including eCO, Skies Miltonia and Riversails.
Mr Wilfred Goh, 49, head of compliance in an insurance firm, who bought a unit at the EC,
1 Canberra, for $978,000, said: "I feel that recent launches are overpriced... this is a value buy."
[email protected]
Sales of new private homes hit 3-year high
Last month's figure up 84%; analysts expect lower volume after loan curbs
Published on Oct 16, 2012
By Amanda Tan
NEW private home sales jumped by about 84 per cent last month compared with August, to 2,621 units sold, the highest monthly figure since July 2009.
The latest spike in sales came as the National Development Ministry revealed that 26,800 HDB flats, 22,400 non-landed private homes and 1,100 landed homes are set to be completed in 2014.
This is a sharp rise in supply compared with the 11,300 HDB flats, 12,500 non-landed private homes and 700 landed homes due for completion this year.
The figures were part of a parliamentary written response to Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC MP Gan Thiam Poh yesterday.
The latest sales figures for last month, released by the Urban Redevelopment Authority yesterday, pre-date new cooling measures unveiled earlier this month, which included loan term curbs.
One reason for last month's surge was that August's figure of only 1,427 units - a 27 per cent drop from July's number - was partly due to the inauspicious Hungry Ghost Festival.
But the sharp rise is less dramatic when executive condominiums (ECs) are factored in. When EC sales are included, last month's figure of 2,771 units sold falls short of the 3,138 homes moved in February.
ERA Realty key executive officer Eugene Lim noted that last month's 2,621 non-EC sales are the highest since July 2009's peak of 2,772 units.
Knight Frank research head Png Poh Soon said the 17,913 units sold by developers in the first nine months of the year have already topped the previous full-year record in 2010 of 16,292. He expects that this year's total could hit 21,000 units.
Mr Lee Sze Teck, senior manager of training, research and consultancy at Dennis Wee Group, said another reason for the pick-up in sales could be the narrowing gap between resale and new prices.
Data from the Singapore Real Estate Exchange Residential Property Flash Report found resale prices of non-landed private homes had some of their strongest gains in the past year last month, up 2.5 per cent from August. In contrast, average prices in the primary new sales market fell 2.2 per cent.
The 748-unit eCO, along Bedok South Avenue 3, was the top performer, selling 402 units of the 513 launched in the month.
Last month's take-up rate exceeds the 2,224 new private units launched - a sign that "demand is still healthy enough to absorb the new supply", SLP International research head Nicholas Mak said.
Mr Lim reckons this month's volume will be lower, owing to the recent measures. But Savills research head Alan Cheong tips strong sales of up to 2,251 units excluding ECs, with strong response to projects including eCO, Skies Miltonia and Riversails.
Mr Wilfred Goh, 49, head of compliance in an insurance firm, who bought a unit at the EC,
1 Canberra, for $978,000, said: "I feel that recent launches are overpriced... this is a value buy."
[email protected]