Sengkang Grand Residences was the best-selling condo in November 2019.
Sales of new private homes in November picked up significantly amid a property glut and despite the beginning of the year-end holiday period, reported The Straits Times.
Excluding executive condominiums (ECs), developers moved 1,147 units in November – a 23.2% increase compared to October. However, this is still 4.5% lower than in November 2018, Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) data showed.
Including ECs, there were 1,168 units sold, which is a 21.9% rise from October but still 3% lower compared to a year ago.
The take-up last month was mostly influenced by projects in the suburban areas of the Outside Central Region (OCR) with 608 sales, followed by 351 units located in the Rest of Central Region (RCR), and lastly 188 units in the Core Central Region (CCR).
Higher sales despite fewer launches
Developers last month launched 740 private homes for sale, a 17% drop from October and a 44.9% decrease compared to the 1,342 launched in November 2018. No ECs were launched for sale last month.
Excluding ECs, 9,547 out of 10,751 units launched have been sold this year. This figure exceeds the 8,795 units sold for the whole of 2018.
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Experts: Mortgage rates might be lower next year, which could cause more demand
“We estimate that between 9,500 and 10,000 units could be sold this year. We anticipate that the next wave of inbound capital may continue to enter Singapore’s property market next year with more Chinese capital flowing south,” said Christine Sun, OrangeTee & Tie head of research.
She added that mortgage rates might stay low or go even lower next year, which would assist housing demand to “cruise” at present levels.
“As such, we estimate that between 9,000 and 9,800 new homes, excluding ECs, could be transacted in 2020.”
Desmond Sim, CBRE head of research for South-east Asia, said 51 projects have so far been launched this year – the largest for the past five years.
He explained that developers are seen focusing on clearing existing inventories while staying prudent in land bidding, as a majority of the new launches this year have only had a take-up of less than 50%.
URA data for last month also shows that there are 4,375 newly launched private residential units that remain unsold, with the figure rising to 4,748 if ECs are to be included.
Source: Colliers International
Source: Colliers International
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Victor Kang, Digital Content Specialist at PropertyGuru, edited this story. To contact him about this or other stories, email victorkang@propertyguru.com.sg
