Developers sold 1,724 private residential units in July, a 163.6% hike from 654 units in June, and a 55% increase y-o-y, according to URA flash estimates.
Source: URA, Cushman & Wakefield Research
Property consultants attribute the sudden surge in residential sales to the property cooling measures - including higher ABSD and lower LTV rates - that took effect on July 6. Close to 1,000 units, or over 60% of the sales volume, were sold on July 5 alone, as buyers were “frantic” to avoid the cooling measures, says Desmond Sim, head of research of CBRE, Singapore & Southeast Asia.
The new private home sales (excluding ECs) of 1,724 units for July compare with a total of 2,239 units launched for the month. Notably, the developers of Park Colonial and Stirling Residences brought forward their project launches to the day before the cooling measures took effect. This contributed to July having the highest number of units launched, since March 2013 with 3,489 units, Sim notes.
Due to the property cooling measures, there has also been a shift in buyers’ preference for bigger units. OrangeTee & Tie believes that this is due to the change in buyer profile, with “more owner-occupiers than investors”. Units sold that are below 800 sq ft fell from 68.4% of total units sold pre-measures (July 1 to 5), to 62.3% post-measures (July 6 to 31). Units sold that are between 800 and 1,500 sq ft increased from 29.4% pre-measures, to 34.7% post-measures.
Altogether, there were five new residential developments launched in July: Riverfront Residences, Park Colonial; Stirling Residences; Daintree Residence and One Tree Hill Collection (see table). The best-selling residential project for July was Riverfront Residences. Within the first month of launch, 42.7% of the total of 1,472 units were sold.
Source: ZACD Research, URA
Daintree Residence was the first condominium project launched after the implementation of the cooling measures. The developer sold 46 out of 80 units in the first month of sales, or 57.5% of its total launch volume, notes Nicholas Mak, executive director of ZACD Group.
Mak expects private new home sales in 2018 to range between 7,500 and 8,500 units, which is lower than 10,566 units sold in 2017.
Source: ERA
Meanwhile, developers sold 52 executive condominium (EC) units in July. As at end-July, there were only 21 unsold EC units left.