Despite the recession, 1,668 new private home units were sold in May, just a little lower compared to the all-time high of 1,731 in August 2007. This would not happen if price cuts weren’t considered and the share market assembly enhanced buyer confidence. Strong developer sales were also very evident in March and April selling 1,220 and 1,214 units, respectively.
Exceptional sales last month were brought by the latest rallying of stock markets and initiation of developers of eye-catching prices, as mentioned by PropNex Chief Executive Mohamed Ismail. He also brought up that speculators were motivated to make a move and looked forward to buyers to take advantage of the low prices. Several other experts said that buyers did not want to miss the chance so there was a rushing wave of sales.
Urban Redevelopment Authority data revealed that developers also worked hard last month. This gave way to the introduction of 1,161 new homes, compared to 1,085 in April. Sales last month and in April went beyond first quarter’s sales by 11 percent. Based on the CBRE Research, the two month’s prices were normally completed at prices higher than the first quarter.
The intriguing part of this was, 37 percent of the total sales came from the increase in sales of homes from core central or prime regions, which almost doubled since the 617 units in April. According to Jones Lang, even though economic crisis is present, sales in May outperformed the August 2007 sales by 6 percent.
If this continues for the second quarter, CBRE Research expects sales to surpass 3,500 units. If this continues for the year, 10,000 home units will be sold.