Property developers only sold 341 private housing units in September 2015, down 34 percent from the 513 units sold in the previous month, reported Today Online citing data from the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA).
On a yearly basis, new private home sales fell 47 percent from the 648 units moved in September 2014.
“We didn’t expect the figure for last month to be that low… We thought that we would see monthly sales of 500 to 800 units,” said Century 21 chief executive Ku Swee Yong.
He explained that last month’s sales may have been affected by the tail-end of the Hungry Ghost period and the general election.
“This is below my expectations and shows that market sentiment is still weak,” he added.
The Hungry Ghost Month, seen by some to be an inauspicious period for buying property, ended on 12 September, while the 2015 general election was held on 11 September.
Meanwhile, Nicholas Mak, executive director of research and consultancy at SLP International, said the drop in sales volume may have been due to investors’ fear of a potential technical recession and a hike in interest rates.
Data from the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) shows that Singapore avoided a technical recession in Q3, with quarter-on-quarter growth of 0.1 percent.
High Park Residences in Fernvale emerged as the best-selling development last month with 46 units sold. It was followed by Botanique at Bartley and Highline Residences at Kim Tian Road with 38 and 21 units sold respectively.
The Outside Central Region (OCR) accounted for the bulk of private home sales last month with 253 units sold, while the Core Central Region (CCR) accounted for 20 units and the Rest of Central Region (RCR) with 68 units.
Over in the EC segment, 288 units were sold in September, down 38 percent from the previous month’s 466 units.
Last month’s figure takes total private homes sold during the first nine months of 2015 to 5,963 units, down by a little over one percent from the 6,030 units sold over the same period last year, but 53 percent lower compared to the 12,666 units transacted in the corresponding period in 2013.
PropNex Realty CEO Mohamed Ismail said the year-on-year declines indicate “the sustained impact since the Total Debt Servicing Ratio framework was imposed in June 2013.
“Based on the above trend, private new home sales could be headed for an annual take-up of about 8,000 units in 2015 — one of the lowest in recent years.”
Ismail expects a rebound in transaction volume in Q4 2015, resulting from the planned launches of various developments. However, he cautioned that the continued enforcement of cooling measures may sap demand and prevent a market pick-up from being sustained.
Image: Artist’s impression of High Park Residences.
Romesh Navaratnarajah, Senior Editor at PropertyGuru, edited this story. To contact him about this or other stories email romesh@propertyguru.com.sg
