Private-home buyers return in force in January

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Published February 16, 2012

Private-home buyers return in force in January

Developers sell 1,872 units, almost treble the 632 units in December

By MICHELLE TAN


(SINGAPORE) A sharp pick-up in January's private new home sales, coming on the heels of a dismal December, has thrown a tough bone at property naysayers to chew on.

Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) figures show that developers sold 1,872 private homes, excluding executive condominiums (ECs) in January, almost treble the 632 units in December last year and 55 per cent more than the year-earlier period.

ECs - a hybrid of public and private housing - also saw brisker sales in January, with 205 units sold, more than five times the 38 units sold in December 2011. Consequently, developers' total sales (including ECs) rose to 2,077 units in January from 670 in December.

Said Alan Cheong, head of research at Savills Singapore: 'The January sales numbers very importantly highlight the point that perceptions of the additional buyer's stamp duty (ABSD) having an adverse impact on the general market were completely untrue. On the contrary, by including or excluding ECs, sales numbers were higher than any of the months in 2011, (last) matched only by those recorded in November 2010.'

Most property watchers were taken by surprise by the spike as sales numbers typically soften in the month Chinese New Year falls on.

Top-selling projects for the month included Watertown at Punggol (770 units sold at $1,169 psf median price), The Hillier in Hillview (387 units sold at $1,289 psf median price), and Parc Rosewood (198 units at $951 psf median price). For ECs, The Rainforest at Choa Chu Kang was the most popular development, with 172 units sold at a median price of $753 psf.

Commenting on the bullish market sentiment, key executive officer at ERA Realty Network, Eugene Lim, said: 'Buyers of these projects are usually first-timers or second home local investors who are not affected by ABSD measures.'

In particular, Mr Lim pointed out that two of the top-sellers, Watertown and The Hillier, were 'well-located mixed-used projects' that benefited from being located near retail facilities and MRT stations.

Even after stripping out these two large and well-received developments from January's numbers, mass-market demand remained healthy, said Chua Yang Liang of Jones Lang LaSalle.

The priciest unit sold by a developer in January was an apartment at The Scotts Tower, which fetched $3,567 psf.

Homes in the outside core region (OCR) continued to dominate both supply and sales. Developers released 1,975 OCR units in January, 1,221 units more than in December. Sales were buoyant, with 1,761 units sold in January compared with 489 in the previous month.

However, numbers were much weaker in the other two regions, in particular, the CCR (core central region), where there were no launches during the month.

Said SLP International executive director Nicholas Mak: 'The current low demand for prime properties is partly due to the ABSD. Only 17 units were transacted in the CCR, the lowest sales since January 2009, when the previous financial crisis forced investors to retreat from the market.'

Some consultants have noticed a gradual trending up of prices of projects launched in the lower-tier of the private housing segment over a three-month period.

Chia Siew Chuin, director of research and advisory at Colliers International, noted that the proportion of units sold in the '$1,000 psf and under' price band had declined from 36.9 per cent in November 2011 to 24.3 per cent in January 2012, while the proportion of units sold in the 'more than $1,000 psf to $1,500 psf' price band had increased from 51.9 per cent in November 2011 to 71.4 per cent in January.

This is because developers are gradually pushing prices higher to capitalise on the stronger sales momentum in the lower-tier, mass market, she said.

And the strong start to 2012 is likely to encourage developers to continue to roll out new launches bundled with attractive discounts to nullify the impact of the ABSD, consultants say.

Upcoming launches include Frasers Centrepoint's 99-year leasehold Palm Isles, Bartley Residences and Far East's Seahill, the latter of which will offer a mix of one to three-bedders, SOHO apartments and townhouses at a starting price of about $1,250 psf.

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http://www.straitstimes.com/PrimeNew...ry_767096.html

Sales of new private homes bounce back

Published on Feb 16, 2012

By Esther Teo, Property Reporter


NEW private home sales here rebounded strongly last month thanks to some major launches after sinking to a two-year low in December when tough new property cooling measures set in.

But there are also signs that foreigners are shying away from buying homes after a hefty 10 per cent additional buyer's stamp duty was imposed on them as part of the Dec 8 measures.

A total of 1,872 units were sold last month - the highest number since November 2010 - in sharp contrast to the two-year low of 632 units in December.

When sales of executive condominiums (ECs) such as The Rainforest in Choa Chu Kang are included, home sales rose further to 2,077 units. ECs are a hybrid of public and private housing.

Experts say Singaporean first-time buyers and investors, little affected by the new additional buyer's stamp duty, are keeping the market buoyant.

But foreign demand seems to be drying up. Only 7.5 per cent of the 889 homes sold at Far East Organization's 992-unit Watertown were bought by non-permanent resident (PR) foreigners. They made up 10 per cent of the 420 units sold at 528-unit The Hillier.

In comparison, non-PR foreigners made up about 20 per cent of buyers at the 338-unit The Tennery in Bukit Panjang launched last year.

This apparent trend away from foreign purchases is further supported by a preliminary analysis of the 172 new sale caveats lodged last month with the Urban Redevelopment Authority.

Although this pool of caveats is very small, and might not be representative of the entire month, only 5 per cent were lodged by non-permanent resident foreigners. More caveats are expected to stream in over the coming weeks.

By comparison, from September to November last year - three months before the measures - foreigners made up 18 per cent of all new sale caveats.

Robust mass market sales led the charge again last month, powered by a few large mass market projects - Watertown in Punggol, The Hillier in Upper Bukit Timah and Parc Rosewood in Woodlands - which made up 72 per cent of total sales.

Still, some experts say sales might be more subdued in the next few months given a lack of large-scale mixed-use developments such as Watertown and The Hillier - typically popular among investors hoping to rent the finished units out.

SLP International research head Nicholas Mak said units in the three top-selling projects consist of primarily small one- or two-bedder units that are likely to be bought by local investors. He expects monthly sales to fall to between 900 and 1,400 units in the next few months.

However, Jones Lang LaSalle's head of research Chua Yang Liang said that with some developers absorbing part of the additional stamp duty, the impact of the recent measures has been mitigated.

Underlying demand from Singaporean buyers is likely to keep sustaining the mass market, he said, adding that up to 12,000 homes could be sold this year if the market remains stable.

Mr Ong Teck Hui, head of research and consultancy at Credo Real Estate, said last month's encouraging showing will lead to more new launches as developers capitalise on positive sentiment.

Upcoming new launches include Bartley Residences, Seletar Park Residence, Palm Isles, Casa Cambio and Sky Habitat.

However, it is a vastly different story in the high-end segment which is at a 'standstill' with only 17 homes in the city centre sold last month. Homes on the city fringe performed only slightly better with 94 units sold.

Experts say that demand in the city centre is expected to remain subdued as it has a higher proportion of foreign buyers compared with suburban areas.