Singapore’s private residential market stayed affordable in January, as 46.2 percent of all private units sold in January 2010 were below S$1,000 psf, said PropNex.
Despite the January 13 cooling measures, there were 1,534 private residential transactions last month, down 9.7 percent from 1,699 units in December, it said in a report.
However, year-on-year figures represent a four percent increase from the 1,476 units in January 2010 and a staggering 1,334 percent increase from the 107 units in January 2009.
“The number of transactions indicates very clearly that there is still a strong demand for private property,” said Mr. Mohamed Ismail, CEO of PropNex. “However, there is a slight downward shift in (the) preference, with regards to price, evidenced by the fact that 680 of the units, or 44.3 percent, fall within the $1,000 – $1,999psf range. This is down from December 2010’s 51.5 percent.”
However, Mr. Ismail attributed the shift partly to the 345 Executive Condominiums (ECs) sold at less than $1,000 psf, accounting for 22.5 percent of the total.
“While mass market projects in the Outside Central Region traditionally fell below the $1,000psf mark, rising prices have broken this threshold,” he said.
“The other reason for the still-healthy percentage of units transacting in the $1,000 – $1,999psf range is the increase in the number of shoebox or ‘mickey mouse’ apartments,” he added.