Sharp rise in resale private home sales

[reporter2]

http://www.straitstimes.com/business...ate-home-sales

Sharp rise in resale private home sales

Despite last month's surge, analysts say it's too early to declare market has turned corner

Wong Siew Ying


Sales of resale non-landed private homes hit an eight-month high last month, owing to a surge in transactions after Chinese New Year resulted in a traditionally quiet February.

An estimated 577 resale units were sold in March, up 47.6 per cent from 391 in February, and the highest since 586 units changed hands in July last year, according to a flash report by SRX Property yesterday.

Last month's sales volume was also a hefty 19 per cent higher than the 485 units resold in the corresponding period a year earlier.

Despite the pick-up in buying activity, analysts told The Straits Times it is too early to declare that the private resale home market has turned a corner.

ERA Realty Network key executive officer Eugene Lim said: "The market still has some downside to go but it is not expected to be significant.

"With challenging economic conditions, rising bank loan interest rates and rising vacancies, we do not think the market has bottomed out as yet."

PropNex Realty chief executive Ismail Gafoor said the resale market is expected to "remain flat" or show modest decline in prices in the next few quarters.

SRX data also showed overall resale prices of non-landed private homes edged up by 0.3 per cent in March from February, but fell 1.2 per cent when compared with the the same month last year.

Last month's small price rise came as SRX revised its figures for February, saying prices fell by a steeper 0.6 per cent that month - more than the 0.3 per cent fall projected in its earlier flash estimate.

PropNex Realty said the lower resale prices compared with those of the last two years probably enticed more buyers who had been waiting on the sidelines to make a purchase.

"With marginal price drops in the last few quarters, this could be a signal that buyers are confident that prices may not fall very much more from today's level," said Mr Ismail.

In terms of location, SRX data showed that resale prices in the core central region or city centre fell 1.7 per cent last month against February, while prices climbed in the two other segments: a 0.1 per cent rise on the city fringes and 1.3 per cent rise in suburban areas.

Analysts said it is still a buyer's market, and sellers have been more willing to lower their asking prices.

ERA's Mr Lim noted: "Sellers who are in a pinch may decide to cut their losses to sell now rather than later. So buyers with the capacity and ability to pick up properties are in an increasingly favourable position."

Savills Singapore research head Alan Cheong expects the resale market to remain active in the coming months, and for overall resale prices of non-landed homes to drop by 0.5 per cent to 1 per cent this year.

"Resale prices could get some support from new launches which are still priced firmly with upside bias because the cost of land has been rising. So they act like a benchmark for the resale market," he added.

[reporter2]

http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real...up-03-in-march

Prices of private resale flats up 0.3% in March

Boost from resale prices in the Rest of Central Region & Outside Central Region

By Lynette Khoo

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@LynetteKhooBT

Apr 13, 2016


RESALE prices of non-landed private homes inched up 0.3 per cent last month, compared with February, SRX Property estimates.

This was buoyed by the uptick of 0.1 per cent and 1.3 per cent in the Rest of Central Region (RCR) and Outside Central Region (OCR) respectively.

Resale prices in the Core Central Region (CCR) however slipped 1.7 per cent last month. This decline coincided with the launch of CapitaLand's Cairnhill Nine project in Orchard, which property consultants say could have drawn interest away from the resale market in the CCR region.

ERA Realty key executive officer Eugene Lim noted that bargain hunters continue to be active in the CCR, with one resale unit at The Ritz Carlton Residences sold in March at a S$3.7 million loss.

Still, the 1.95 per cent increase in resale prices in the CCR on a year-on-year basis indicated that astute investors and home buyers continue to look for value prime-property buys, he said.

Based on SRX Property's estimates, resale volume of non-landed private residential transactions jumped 47.6 per cent from a month ago to 577 units in March.

Despite the uptick in resale prices and volumes, DTZ regional head of research (SEA) Lee Nai Jia felt that it was "too early to tell whether the market is on the mend" given that February served as a low base for comparison and resale volumes in March were still significantly lower than in March 2012.

SRX Property revised its resale price index for the non-landed private market in February to reflect a steeper fall of 0.6 per cent instead of a 0.3 per cent fall.

Mr Lim thought the resale volume in March was encouraging, considering that three new projects, Wandervale EC (executive condominium), The Wisteria and Cairnhill Nine were successfully launched in March.

"Moving forward, due to challenging economic and market conditions, sellers who are in a pinch may decide to cut their losses to sell now rather than later," he said.

"So, buyers with the capacity and ability to pick up properties are in an increasingly favourable position," Mr Lim added. "We can expect the private property resale market to remain active in this March to July window before the onset of the Hungry Ghost month."