http://www.straitstimes.com/archive/...ed-q1-20130504

SOLD OR AVAILABLE BY AUCTION

Just nine properties auctioned off in Q1

But total sales value of $83m exceeds full-year figure for 2012

Published on May 04, 2013

By Cheryl Ong


ONLY a handful of properties were sold by auction in the first quarter, but their value was markedly higher than levels in the same period a year ago.

Just nine properties were sold out of 113 put up for auction in the first three months of the year, according to consultancies that The Straits Times spoke to.

Still, the ratio was better than in the same period a year ago, when it was three out of 91.

In terms of value, the nine sales totalled $83.4 million, well above the $15.9 million seen last year and the $27.8 million seen in 2011, said Jones Lang LaSalle.

Property consultancy Colliers International said the value of properties sold at auctions for the first quarter exceeded the figure for the whole of last year.

"This was despite the lull in the secondary market caused by the series of government cooling measures implemented recently in the residential sector," it said.

However, as experts pointed out, the bumper numbers for the first quarter were due largely to four large transactions, including DTZ's sale of four adjoining shophouses in North Bridge Road for $15 million in January.

Most of the big-ticket deals came in February. A JTC factory at 39 Benoi Road went for $25.6 million in a sale by Jones Lang LaSalle, Savills handled a good class bungalow at 8, Chee Hoon Avenue, that sold for $22.9 million and a three-storey shophouse at 38, Tras Street, auctioned by Colliers reaped $6.6 million.

Experts also noted that most of the sales were in the non-residential sector, another sign that investors were put off by the cooling measures imposed in January.

"The renewed interest seen in the auction market could be attributed to the continued government curbs in the residential sector, which have diverted buying interest to the non-residential sector," said Colliers.

Despite the increased number of transactions in the first quarter, buyers were hardly aggressive at auctions. Last month, a Knight Frank auction that attracted about 40 participants saw only one bid lodged for the eight properties on offer. A bidder tendered $18.8 million for four retail units at Alexandra Central, which had an opening price of $21.3 million, but none of the properties was sold during the session.

Two units at the Costa Rhu condominium in the East Coast had been put up repeatedly for auction by DTZ since September last year, but they were still unsold in March and in fact never attracted a single bid.

Mr Timothy Lie, a regular auction participant, said the atmosphere had been muted since he started turning up in September.

He added that bidding had been even more lacklustre since February across all categories of property, with most attracting unsuccessful counter-offers or no bids at all.

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