http://www.straitstimes.com/Money/St...ry_768866.html

Nearly 500 new homes snapped up in past week

Published on Feb 21, 2012

By Esther Teo, Property Reporter


ALMOST 500 new homes were sold over the past week as developers stepped up their marketing efforts to ride on last month's stellar transaction figures.

Last month, 1,872 new private homes were snapped up - the highest figure since November 2010 - and builders are clearly keen to keep the ball rolling.

Mr Colin Tan, research head at Chesterton Suntec International, said developers are rushing to launch more units to ride on the positive buying sentiment and to lock in sales in case new cooling measures are introduced.

'The sales figures show you the number of investors that are in the market... Low borrowing costs have left them with few alternatives, liquidity doesn't know where else to go,' he added.

The leader for the week was Macly Group's Guillemard Edge near Dakota MRT station, which recorded more than 230 sales. Units in the 275-unit project were priced between $1,150 per sq ft (psf) and $1,250 psf.

More than half of the units were one-bedders of around 409 sq ft with a price tag of about $500,000.

Parc Rosewood in Woodlands found buyers for 120 units at an average price of $1,000 psf. This was up from the $925 psf to $998 psf price range when it was first previewed late last month.

Last week's transactions brought total sales to more than 510 at the 689-unit project. It is jointly developed by Fragrance Group and World Class Land.

A City Developments spokesman said its show suites attracted a steady crowd over the weekend.

The firm sold more than 40 units in total at The Palette, NV Residences, H2O Residences and Hedges Park, as well as The Rainforest and Blossom Residences executive condominiums.

Similarly, Far East Organization sold 77 units across all its projects over the weekend, including at The Greenwich, Skyline@Orchard Boulevard and The Scotts Tower.

About 10 sales over the weekend at 435-unit The Nautical in Sembawang Road brought total sales to more than 200 units. Average prices were between $850 psf and $860 psf.

Experts noted that many of the projects that sold well consisted of small one- and two-bedroom units with affordable quantums. These are typically popular with investors.