Property developers still held back on launching new luxury developments in the fourth quarter even as buyer interest in these projects increased slightly in the past two months.
According to CB Richard Ellis (CBRE), no new luxury developments were released in Q4, despite the increased buying interest for high-end homes, or those that sell for over $2,000 psf in October and November.
About 230 units in this segment were sold in October and another 160 units changed hands in November.
For units costing over $3,000 psf, the number sold reached 12 units in November, twice than that in October. Analysts also observed that older launches like The Laurels, The Trizon and Paterson Suites also saw renewed interest from buyers last month.
However, most of the launch activity was focused on the mass market segment, as property developers took advantage of the robust demand from upgraders for cheaper private properties.
“Contrary to expectations that developers would look to unload previously accumulated land for high-end properties to ride on the building up of buying momentum for such properties, developers have only launched 9 percent more of high-end homes in November,” said Tay Huey Ying, director of research and advisory at Colliers International. “Instead, developers have surprised many by launching primarily mass-market homes in November.”
Developers released 1,638 units of new mass-market homes in November, more than thrice in October, accounting for 70 percent of all new homes launched last month.
Buyers picked up 1,229 mass market units in November, 64 percent of the 1,909 private homes snapped up during the month. Total sales volume in 2010 reached 15,025 units, higher than the record 14,811 new private homes that changed hands in 2007.