Q4 auction sales accounted for over half of total sales in 2016. (Photo: JLL)
Property auction sales for the fourth quarter of 2016 exceeded expectations, with total sales at $47.2 million, or 51 percent of this year’s tally, said property consultancy JLL.
The figure is more than three times the $10.83 million sales value registered in Q4 2015, and more than double the sales value in Q3 this year.
JLL revealed that fourth quarter performance was boosted by the sale of three vacant plots of land within the prime Swiss Club estate for $15.22 million, and the $12.3 million sale of a landed property at 4 Jalan Bahasa via liquidator’s sale.
The sales of these properties shows “there are keen buyers in the market on the lookout for sites with such potential”.
Several other large quantum residential properties were also sold via auction during the period under review, including non-landed units at Seascape in Sentosa and Orchard Scotts, as well as a landed unit at Daffodil Drive in District 20.
JLL noted that the quarter saw a good mix of property types and seller profiles.
Of the 11 properties auctioned, 10 were listed for the first time and sold within two to four weeks of entering the market. This indicates that there are “ready buyers willing to commit to good deals in today’s market, despite having to put down a 10 percent deposit on the spot”, said JLL.
“Being ready was to the advantage of some buyers, who managed to snag deals below what the previous owners had paid.”
A three-bedroom unit at Orchard Scotts, for instance, was auctioned for $2.35 million, which translates to a 44 percent loss for the previous owner who paid $4.18 million for the property. A four-bedroom duplex penthouse at Seascape at Sentosa Cove was also auctioned for $6.35 million, down from the $11 million paid by the previous owner in December 2011.
With just two weeks left to the end of the year, total auction sales stands at $92.2 million.
“This, however, is still almost 10 percent shy of 2015’s total sales value of $102.3 million,” said JLL, noting that while more properties were sold by auction in 2016, last year witnessed more transactions of a bigger quantum.
Mok Sze Sze, Head of Auctions at JLL Singapore, highlighted a year-on-year increase in the number of properties sold during auction since 2013, when the Total Debt Servicing Ratio (TDSR) was introduced.
“This suggests that buyers have, over time, come to terms with the cooling measures and are more willing to commit, as opposed to adopting a wait-and-see attitude. In addition, more transactions taking place during auctions also illustrates the meeting of price expectation between buyers and sellers,” she said.
Looking ahead, JLL expects mortgagee sales “to increase by 10 to 20 percent in 2017, considering that Singapore is going through a protracted cyclical downturn, and the economy is expected to stay sluggish next year”.
Romesh Navaratnarajah, Senior Editor at PropertyGuru, edited this story. To contact him about this or other stories, email romesh@propertyguru.com.sg
