High-end sales at CCR shoot up 247% in April

[dtrax]

The big boost came from the selling of 87 out of 100 units at the new Eon Shenton project.

Healthy sales were also noted at older projects such as the Marina Bay Suites and Scotts Tower.

The residential property sector is seeing a revival following the series of blows it has encountered in 2011, according to OCBC Research.

While April sales in the mass-market segment (Outside Central Region or "OCR") came down 18% MoM to 1,479 units, the analyst noted a 53% increase in mid-tier sales (Rest of Central Region or "RCR") to 779 units sold mostly due to a strong sell-out launch at the 244-unit Katong Regency.

A headline total of 2,660 new private residential homes (including 173 EC units) were sold in April 12, which was down 12% MoM.

Excluding EC and landed-units, units sold were up 4% MoM and 40% YoY to 2,449 units - a 33-month high since July 2009 - continuing the torrid pace of sales from January 12.

While units launched in Apr 12 were down 6% MoM at 2,368 units, the take-up rate continued to be exuberant at 103%, up from 94% last month.

The inventory of launched and unsold inventory in the market was flat MoM at 6,225 units.

Only 26% of total sales were attributed to projects newly launched in the month, this versus 78%, 29% and 38% in the months of January, February and March 12, respectively.

Because new launches typically boost monthly sales figures, OCBC Research believes the strong showing in April 12, with limited impetus from the new launches, reflect healthy sales conversions at older projects and strong broad-based demand.

Source: SBR

[dtrax]

Developers in nearby Core Central Region and Rest of Central Region are regaining confidence and ramping up their residential launches.

Sales have continued to buck the downward trend in the Outer Central region, inspiring hopes for a similar take-up in CCR and RCR. Developers have ramped up their sales activities in April to almost double the number of units launched compared to March.

Here's more from Colliers International:

Both the Core Central Region (CCR) and Rest of Central Region (RCR) have shown signs of pickup in launch and sales activities, indicating that the exuberance and buoyant activity in the OCR (Outer Central Region) is gradually filtering to the mid- and high-end tiers amid the low interest rate and high liquidity environment.

After testing the market for the last two months, project developers in these market tiers stepped up launch activities from new and previously launched developments.

In the RCR, developers launched 642 units, up 52.1% MoM, and sold 867 units, an increase of 69.7% over March’s sales. New launches in the RCR include the 509-unit Sky Habitat which found buyers for 131 units for the 180 units launched; the 244-unit Katong Regency which was sold out soon after its launch; the 128-unit Fulcrum which sold 10 units from the 39 units launched; the 100-unit Eon Shenton which sold 87 units; the 30-unit 91 Marshall which sold 27 units; and the 10-unit Ria Apartments which launched and sold two units. These projects made up 92.5% and 57.7% of all units released and sold in the RCR.

Overall, projects in the RCR accounted for 26.9% and 34.9% of all units launched and sold, respectively in April 2012, up from 16.3% and 21.4% correspondingly in March 2012.

A similar situation was also observed in the CCR, where developers rolled out 126 units in April, more than double the level in March. They found buyers for 106 units, up 86% MoM. As a result, the proportion of project launches and sales in the CCR to the total launches and sales in April expanded to 5.3% and 4.3% respectively, compared to the corresponding share of 1.6% and 2.4% in March.

New launches in the CCR include the 74-unit 8 Bassein (16 units sold); the partially launched 53-unit TwentyOne Angullia Park (3 units sold) and Barker 9, a fully launched six-unit strata landed housing development which found 1 buyer. While sales from these projects were relatively slow - 20 units sold out of the 86 units released - projects launched previously saw buying interest for another 86 units in April. Examples of these developments include Rochelle at Newton (19 units sold), the Scotts Tower (8 units sold) and Suites@Newton (5 units sold).