Condo resale prices up 1% in July to new high; sales drop: SRX

Tue, Aug 07, 2018


CONTINUING a pattern seen in recent months, resale prices of non-landed homes rose last month to a new record though sales volume weakened, according to data from real estate portal SRX Property released on Tuesday.

Resale prices of condominiums and private apartments climbed 1 per cent in July from the previous month, SRX's flash estimates showed.

Compared to a year ago, resale prices are up by 12.3 per cent from July 2017, and have increased by 9 per cent so far this year, said SRX.

It also revised up its month-on-month resale price increase for June to 0.4 per cent from 0.2 per cent initially estimated.

The monthly resale price increase was led by homes in the prime district, or core central region (CCR), which rose 2.6 per cent from June. Resale prices in the city fringes or rest of central region (RCR) advanced 1.2 per cent, while prices in the outlying or outside of central region (OCR) edged up 0.2 per cent.

But while prices went up, sales came down. SRX figures show an estimated 1,085 non-landed private resale units were sold in July, a 2.8 per cent decline from the 1,116 units resold in June. Year-on-year, resale volume was down 1.5 per cent from the 1,102 units sold in July 2017. Compared to its peak of 2,050 units in April 2010, the number of resale transactions was lower by 47.1 per cent.

Looking at the numbers, OrangeTee & Tie's head of research & consultancy Christine Sun said she expects resale prices to continue trending upwards in the coming months, but at a much slower pace due to the latest round of property cooling measures.

Noting how sales activity has trailed the growth in prices, Ms Sun said the numerous policies set in motion previously have already eradicated much speculative buying and prevented many families from over-leveraging.

"The market is now limited mainly to genuine home buyers and cash rich investors," she said. "The resilient nature of the market suggests that there is still a strong fundamental demand for resale homes, largely for the purpose of upgrading and long term investment."

SRX's overall median transaction over X-value (TOX) was positive S$4,000 last month, a sharp drop from S$17,000 in June. TOX measures how much a buyer is overpaying or underpaying on a property based on SRX Property's computer-generated market value.

Telok Blangah and Harbourfront in District 4 posted the highest TOX, a whopping S$100,000, among districts with more than 10 resale transactions.

District 9's Orchard, Cairnhill and River Valley posted the highest negative TOX of S$30,000.