The number of properties submitted for auction in Singapore surged 20.7 percent quarter-on-quarter to 222 units in Q3 2015, while the number of successfully auctioned properties climbed to 12 from seven previously, revealed a Knight Frank report.
As such, total auction sales soared more than four-fold to $45.6 million in Q3 from $10 million in the quarter before.
Residential units dominated the list of successfully auctioned properties, with nine deals accounting for 69.3 percent ($31.6 million) of the total sales value.
The report stated that the number of non-landed residential properties in districts 1, 2, 9, 10 and 11 put up for auction increased 51.7 percent year-on-year to 91 units during the first nine months of 2015.
The number of non-landed residential properties in the said districts put up for mortgagee sale also jumped 56.3 percent year-on-year to 25 units during the same period. Of these, five found buyers on the auction floor for a total sales value of $13 million, up from $4.8 million a year ago.
Meanwhile, 31 landed homes were put up for mortgagee sale during the first nine months of this year, of which two found buyers for a total of $5.7 million.
Knight Frank noted that some of the “landed properties that did not sell during the auction were successfully sold after the auction”.
Last quarter also saw the number of shoebox units put up for auction increase from four in the second quarter to six.
“Of the six units, three were mortgagee sale units while the other three were developer units, which could be an indication that some developers with unsold units may consider auction as another mode of disposal,” said the property consultancy.
Although only one shoebox unit was successfully transacted in Q3 at $500,000, Knight Frank believes the deal could help “trigger some interest from first-time home buyers or new investors as no shoebox unit was successfully sold at an auction since 2011”.
Romesh Navaratnarajah, Singapore Editor at PropertyGuru, edited this story. To contact him about this or other stories email romesh@propertyguru.com.sg
