Singapore condo resale volume up 21.6% in October as buyers sense worst is over

Wed, Nov 11, 2020

Vivienne Tay

https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/rea...-worst-is-over

RESALE volumes of non-landed private homes in Singapore rose 21.6 per cent month-on-month to about 1,509 units in October, a level not seen since May 2018.

This comes amid healthy demand for homes, signalling recovery from the Covid-19 situation as more buyers enter the market, according to research heads from PropNex and ERA on Tuesday.

Volumes were 72.9 per cent higher year-on-year (y-o-y) and 78 per cent higher than the five-year average volumes for the month of October, according to flash figures from real estate portal SRX Property on Tuesday.

A majority, or 58 per cent, of resale volumes came from the outside of central region (OCR), followed by 25.3 per cent from the rest of central region (RCR) or city fringes, and 16.8 per cent from the core central region (CCR).

Meanwhile, overall prices of resale condominiums were up 0.8 per cent on the month and 0.7 per cent higher y-o-y. Resale prices rose for all regions, with the CCR, RCR and OCR rising 0.5 per cent, 1 per cent, and 0.8 per cent respectively.

Y-o-y, condo prices in the RCR and OCR rose by 0.9 per cent and 1.9 per cent respectively, while CCR prices dropped by 2.9 per cent.

PropNex's head of research and content Wong Siew Ying said sales have been relatively brisk in recent months as buyers enter the market, sensing that the worst may be over and taking confidence from the gradually recovering economy.

"What we are seeing in the private condo resale market seems to be broadly in line with trends in the private new home sales market and the HDB resale segment," she added.

For Nicholas Mak, ERA Realty's head of research and consultancy, SRX's indicators show that the Singapore private resale non-landed housing market has more than recovered from the Covid-19 pandemic. He also said the result of the recent US presidential election is positive for the Singapore real estate market.

Christine Sun, head of research and consultancy at OrangeTee & Tie, said the strong demand for properties across the various market segments spurred more sellers to put up their units for sale.

"In light of the pandemic, sellers were more willing to negotiate prices and the 'realistic asking prices' have resulted in more deals being closed in recent weeks," she said.

Ms Sun estimates that around 8,500 to 9,000 resale homes could be sold this year as the coronavirus situation continues to stabilise in Singapore and as the country prepares to enter Phase Three of its reopening. Sales volume may increase slightly to between 9,000 and 10,000 units in 2021, she added.

According to SRX, a unit at Wallich Residence fetched the highest transacted price in October at S$62 million. In the RCR, the highest transacted price was S$9.1 million for a unit resold at Reflections at Keppel Bay. In the OCR, the highest transacted price was for a unit at Costa Del Sol, which was resold for S$2.9 million.

SRX said the overall transaction over X-value (TOX) for October was zero, unchanged from September.

District 11 (Newton, Novena) posted the highest median TOX at positive S$9,000, while District 2 (Chinatown, Tanjong Pagar) posted the lowest median TOX at negative S$13,000.

TOX measures how much a buyer is overpaying (positive value) or underpaying (negative value) for a property based on SRX's computer-generated market value. The data includes only districts with more than 10 resale transactions.

99 Group, which operates property portal 99.co, said separately on Tuesday that it has acquired property platform and real estate data provider Singapore Real Estate Exchange (SRX). 99 Group did not disclose the acquisition sum.