Singapore’s residential resale market activity within Districts 9, 10 and 11 registered a slight pick-up in sales volumes in Q2 2014, according to JLL’s Asia Pacific Property Digest for Q2 2014.
The number of units sold rose 18.6 percent quarter-on-quarter (q-o-q) to 191 units, signalling an improvement after three consecutive quarters of weak sales due to the Total Debt Servicing Ratio (TDSR) framework.
“However, it is too early to determine if the market has reached a bottom,” the report said.
New sales’ activity remained muted due to poor market sentiment, with only 72 sales transactions registered in the prime districts in Q2 2014, down 22.6 percent q-o-q. New sales volumes during April to June this year showed a steeper year-on-year decline of 80.2 percent.
Monthly leasing volumes within the prime districts were similar to Q1 2014 with a total of 2,359 leases signed in April and May combined. “Finance-related companies continue to relocate business functions offshore, with the market witnessing more cases of early lease termination. As a result, market sentiment remains cautious with rental volumes relatively flat,” JLL said.
Gross rents in the Typical Prime segment dropped further by two percent q-o-q to $3.82 per sq ft per month, while the Luxury Prime segment declined 2.8 percent q-o-q to $4.37 per sq ft per month.
Source: JLL
However, units in properties which are typical leasing strongholds continue to see strong demand.
The report said cautious buying in the prime market is likely to keep volumes low and capital values soft. “With the full year supply for 2014 expected to surpass the annual level witnessed in the past two years and coupled with softer leasing demand, rents are likely to face further downward pressure with large-scale projects at greater risk.”
Photo by Nikki De Guzman
Muneerah Bee, Senior Journalist at PropertyGuru, wrote this story. To contact her about this or other stories email muneerah@propertyguru.com.sg
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