Around 4,444 new homes have been sold in Q2 2011, compared to the 3,595 units sold in Q1 and 3,969 units fewer than the 8,413 units sold over the same period last year.
“Of the 4,444 units sold in Q2, 2,732 units (61.4 percent) were located in OCR,” said Li Hiaw Ho, Executive Director of CB Richard Ellis (CBRE). “Major projects in OCR that sold well include Eight Courtyards (488 units sold), Hedges Park (309 units sold) and Terrasse (229 units sold).”
He said that mid-tier projects located in the Rest of Central Region (RCR) made up 25.6 percent, (1,134 units), while up-market projects in the Core Central Region (CCR) made up 13.0 percent (578 units) of the total units sold in Q2.
“Small-format projects in Geylang area seemed to be popular, as seen in the sell-out of Centra Heights (90 units), Melosa (40 units) and Sims Edge (78 units). In the EC market, all the 315 units of Belysa were sold during the quarter as it was attractively priced at S$670 psf.”
Li noted that strong activity in the primary market spilled over into the secondary market, resulting in 3,945 resale homes and 670 sub-sales in the second quarter. Around 3,525 resale homes and 643 sub-sales were sold in the first quarter.
“Despite the slightly higher number of sub-sales in Q2 2011, it represents only 7.4 percent of the total sales volume, showing that the property measures are effective in keeping speculative activity at bay.”
Meanwhile, the Urban Redevelopment Authority’s (URA) 2Q2011 real estate statistics showed that 4,802 uncompleted private residential units were launched for sale in the second quarter, compared with 4,130 units in Q1.
“At the same time, 4,325 uncompleted private residential units were sold by developers, compared with 3,430 units in 1st Quarter 2011. Developers also sold 119 completed private residential units in 2nd Quarter 2011,” it said.
Going forward, Li expects take-up rate in the third quarter to slow, compared to Q2’s volume, as the debt crisis in the European Union and the US have somewhat dampened market sentiments.
“In addition, the record supply of public housing being released to the market as well as a possible tweaking of government policies in the coming months is likely to affect the demand of private suburban homes,” he said.
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