The monthly sales volume for private residential units, excluding executive condominiums (EC), dropped 12 percent in May to 1,575 units.
Mohamed Ismail, Chief Executive of PropNex, said the last round of cooling measures announced on 13 January “have certainly impacted buyer confidence, as seen in the slight decline in transactions in May”.
All the top selling projects were in the Outside Central Region (OCR), which saw sales volume increase by five percent last month. Four projects in the OCR sold more than 100 units, including the Terrase (184 units), Belysa (162 units), Foresque Residences (141 units) and Eight Courtyards (137 units).
Mr. Ismail said that these four projects had certainly been instrumental in May’s robust sales figures, accounting for 624 units, around 34 percent of all the units sold.
“This point is more noteworthy when we consider that fact that close to 60 percent of all the units sold were in the mass market, or under S$1,200 psf,” he said, explaining that it is the affordable price of the four best-selling projects in May that facilitated the relatively healthy volume of transactions.
Meanwhile, the Core Central Region (CCR) recorded a sales volume decline of 43 percent in May, after increasing by 14 percent in April, while sales volume in the Rest of Central Region (RCR) also dropped 27 percent to 347 units sold.
“In the RCR, the top two performers were The Foresta @ Mount Faber with 111 units sold at S$1,919 psf and The Interweave in Balestier with 59 units sold at $1,370 psf,” said Mr. Li Hiaw Ho, Executive Director at CB Richard Ellis (CBRE).
“A new record was set for luxury condominiums by the sale of a unit in The Marq at S$5,842 psf. This floor rate is higher than the previous record of $5,600 psf set for a penthouse unit in The Orchard Residences. Two other upmarket projects in CCR, The Peak @ Cairnhill and Tomlinson Heights, sold four units each at median prices of $2,637 psf and $3,329 psf respectively,” he said.
Furthermore, Mr. Ismail expects June sales to hold steady, with more than 1,500 units sold, given that investor confidence and buying interest will be upheld after the hubbub of the General Elections and the ruling party’s return to power.
“Given the fact that developers are expected to launch more projects in the coming months and the economic growth is at an unexpectedly strong 8.5 percent for 1Q11, the volume of sales should continue to maintain levels above 1,500 units per month for the next few months.”
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