New home sales for September excluding executive condominiums reached 648 units, registering a 50% increase month-on-month. The improvement is attributed to the resumption of market activity after the Hungry Ghost Festival, says Ong Teck Hui, national director of research and consultancy at JLL. Monthly sales volume is still subdued compared with the pre-total debt servicing ratio period, he adds. Of the 648 developer units sold in September, 272 units were from new launches while the remaining 376 units were from earlier launches.

There were 514 new units launched for sale in September, with five new launches, namely M5 and One Duchess in the core central region (CCR), 70 St Patrick’s in the outside central region (OCR) as well as Forte Suites and Highline Residences in the rest of central region (RCR). Highline Residences by Keppel Land and 70 Saint Patrick’s by UOL Group reported the highest take-up rates.

In 3Q2014, developers sold 1,596 new private homes, the lowest quarterly sales since 4Q2008, says JLL. In the year before the total debt servicing ratio was imposed, quarterly sales averaged 5,000 units, which was treble the volume in 3Q2014. “This shows the extent to which demand has weakened in the primary market,” says Ong.

Chia Siew Chuin, director of research and advisory at Colliers International expects new home sales for the month of October to be in the range of 500 to 700 units, in light of the healthy take-up rate at Marina One Residences.

This article appeared in the City & Country of Issue 648 (Oct 20) of The Edge Singapore.