http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real...-some-projects

Analysis shows median prices of units decline in some projects

By Kalpana Rashiwala

[email protected]@KalpanaBT

16 Oct


A SAMPLING of 20 existing private residential projects on the market by R'ST Research showed that 12 of them had declines in median prices on units sold by their respective developers, ranging from 0.4 per cent to 14 per cent, between June and September this year.

Six projects saw price increases of one to 4 per cent. Developers of two projects did not sell any units in June, so a price comparison between that month and the latest sale month was not possible.

R'ST Research director Ong Kah Seng acknowledged that the price changes over the four-month period in each project could also be due to differences in the types of units sold in the relevant month, such as variation in sizes and the orientation of the apartments.
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The analysis was based on median per square foot prices captured in data released by Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) from developers' monthly submissions of housing sales data. Projects that posted notable decreases in median price between June and September are Rivertrees Residences in Sengkang area (down 13.6 per cent), Bartley Ridge in Mount Vernon Road (11.1 per cent fall), The Quinn in Bartley Road (8.4 per cent fall) and La Fiesta in Sengkang Square (7.1 per cent drop). At The Panorama along Ang Mo Kio Avenue 2, the median price of units sold by developer Wheelock Properties (Singapore) fell 5.6 per cent between June and September.

On the other hand, the median price of units sold by the developers of Goodwood Residence in Bukit Timah and Eight Riversuites in Whampoa both rose 4 per cent over the study period. The Santorini in Tampines, The Skywoods in Dairy Farm Heights and Thomson Three in Bright Hill Drive all saw median price gains of 3-plus per cent. "This could be due partly to better profile of units sold in September," suggested Mr Ong. He selected the 20 projects as they all had considerable sales, ranging from seven to 42 units each, last month.

"The fall in median prices over the past four months in the sample is well within expectations as TDSR (total debt servicing ratio) framework continually restricts big loan quantums for property buyers. Price cuts also tend to be more evident in suburban condo projects, where there tend to be earlier projects launched in the same locality in recent times."

Mr Ong expects developers to continually trim prices marginally to draw buyers for the rest of this year as well as the first half of next year, "as any rollback of cooling measures is likely take place in H2 2015 at the earliest".*