New private home sales in Singapore hit a high of 3,032 units in March, just three percent short of the record 3,138 homes sold in the previous month. Excluding executive condos (ECs), the sales volume reached 2,393.
Data released today by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) also shows that home sales have almost doubled compared to the same period last year.
A total of 2,582 units were launched last month, with the bulk (82 percent) located in the Outside Central Region (OCR).
Six projects in the OCR sold more than 100 units each. Twin Waterfalls, an EC project in Punggol, sold 369 units in the month at a median price of S$725 psf. The Tampines Trilliant, another EC sited in Tampines Central 7 sold 153 units at a median price of S$798 psf.
At the same time, Ripple Bay condo in Pasir Ris, which was launched in March, saw a take up of 326 units out of 386 (84 percent) during the month at a median price of S$883 psf. Other projects that sold more than 100 units in March include Palm Isles in Flora Drive, Riversound Residence at Sengkang and The Minton (pictured) in Hougang.
“The strong demand is primarily driven by a large supply of new units, low interest rates, ample liquidity and low unemployment levels,” noted Tejaswi Chunduri, Regional Analyst, PropertyGuru.
In addition, Mohamed Ismail, CEO of PropNex Realty, said these big project launches in suburban areas show a strong and sustained interest in private property by HDB upgraders. “But developers may face resistance if the price per square foot is too high, especially in the OCR,” he cautioned.
Just this past weekend, CapitaLand launched its Sky Habitat condo in Bishan Central, with an average price of S$1,747 psf and S$1,642 psf for one-bedders and four-bedders respectively.
Moving forward, Ismail expects transactions in April to slow with around 1,800 units sold.
“Developers were successful in catching the buying trends in the past two months, however as there are fewer new launches in the month of April, it is expected that the sale of private properties will taper but still perform moderately well.”
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