En bloc sales in Singapore have come to a halt while residential sales have also suffered.
The government’s latest round of property cooling measures dampened buying sentiment in the private residential market during the third quarter of 2018, said Edmund Tie & Company (ET&Co) in a report.
This comes as en bloc sales came to a halt while residential sales was lacklustre due to a curb in investor demand.
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In Q3 2018, private residential sales volume fell 21 percent quarter-on-quarter to 5,569 units.
Despite the drop in total sales volume, new sales jumped 28.6 percent to 2,960 units as buyers frantically snapped up homes on the eve of the introduction of new cooling measures (5 July) to avoid additional costs. In fact, 960 units were moved in the primary market on that day, accounting for 32.8 percent of the new sales for the period under review.
ET&Co noted that while no significant price discounts were offered for new launches, developers posted relatively healthy take-up rates as they focused their marketing efforts on the projects’ unique attributes instead.
The Tre Ver, for instance, moved 191 of the 200 units launched in August at an average selling price of about $1,550 psf.
“Designed by award-winning WOHA Architects, the healthy take-up rate of The Tre Ver can be attributed to buyers’ preference for developments that are built by renowned developers, emphasise greenery and sustainability, as well as being close to park connectors,” the report said.
Sales in the secondary market, on the other hand, dropped 45.1 percent quarter-on-quarter to 2,609 units.
“The movement in the secondary market was contrary to that of the primary market, as buyers and sellers in the secondary market did not have enough time to respond before the cooling measures took effect.”
Looking ahead, ET&Co expects demand for residential properties to come from first-time buyers as well as displaced owners on the lookout for replacement homes, who are less affected by the new measures.
It also expects the recent revision of guidelines for private residential developments to result in a reduction of shoebox units.
“This further affects the affordability of residential units as the quantum of home purchases increase.”
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Romesh Navaratnarajah, Senior Editor at PropertyGuru, edited this story. To contact him about this or other stories, email romesh@propertyguru.com.sg
