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SINGAPORE – The number of private non-real estate homes resold hit a two-year high last month, while prices firmed up slightly in what observers see as another sign of the growing recovery in Singapore’s housing market from the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.
An estimated 1,052 condos and resale apartments changed hands last month, 7 percent more than in July and 36.3 percent more than in August last year, according to flash figures from real estate portal SRX Property on Tuesday ( September 8th). The last highest volume was achieved in July 2018, the month the property’s cooling measures were announced, when 1,100 units were resold.
Strong demand for HDB upgraders was evident in mass market households in the Outer Central Region (OCR), which accounted for nearly 60 percent of August resale transactions. As in July, this group of buyers has entered the private resale market in greater numbers, and recently many apartments have become eligible for resale upon obtaining their minimum five-year occupancy period.
Christine Sun, head of research and consulting at OrangeTee & Tie, said stellar private home sales in August appear to be in tandem with positive sales trends seen in other market segments.
Last week’s SRX flash estimate for HDB resale volume for August showed an equally strong level of demand, as over 2,400 HDB resale floors were traded for the third consecutive month. The August HDB Build-to-Order sales release had also been oversubscribed many times for various developments. According to the latest warning data from the Urban Redevelopment Authority, new home sales, excluding executive or EC condos, also reached more than 1,200 units in August during Hungry Ghost Month. These are the highest sales achieved in the last 12 months.
Strong demand for housing in different market segments may indicate that Singapore’s housing market may be showing some “early signs of recovery,” Ms Sun said.
Property sales had plummeted during the breaker period when home visits were not allowed and all show floors were closed. Private resales began to rebound in July with demand stifled and HDB upgraders nearly doubled transactions to 978 units resold from 496 units in June.
Sun said: “For many Singaporeans, residential properties may remain a ‘safer bet’, especially for investors seeking stable returns in times of uncertainty. The exuberance of the primary market may also have spread to the secondary market as buyers opportunistic. They are looking for undervalued resale properties on the market.
“With more than 5,000 resale condos sold in the first eight months of 2020 according to SRX data, we expect total resale volume to likely reach 7,500 to 8,000 units this year, slightly less than the 8,949 units resold in 2019, but it’s still a very respectable number in view of the massive disruption of the pandemic, “he said.
Despite the surge in demand, condo resale prices in August were largely stable, rising 0.4 percent from July and the same amount from the same month last year.
Both the central central region (CCR) and the rest of the central region (RCR) saw a marginal increase in resale price of 0.3 percent per month, while the OCR, which has the support of a larger group of buyers , enjoyed a 0.5 percent higher. penny increase.
Nicholas Mak, head of research and consulting at ERA Realty, said the stable price index and the expansion in resale volume in August indicate that sellers weren’t cutting prices significantly to sell their properties. At the same time, some home buyers were defying Hungry Ghost Month, which began in the third week of August, to seal real estate deals.
Ms Wong Siew Ying, Head of Research and Content at Propnex Realty, said she expects private resale prices to be relatively flat in the coming months as the bleak economic outlook and low confidence weigh on sellers’ ability to substantially increase sales prices. Also, buyers are likely to be cautious and prudent in their purchases, aware of potential downside risks ahead, including the weaker hiring market, she said.
A condo unit at Hilltops on Cairnhill Circle that sold for $ 8.4 million was the highest resale price traded in August. On the Outskirts of the City or RCR, the highest price was for a $ 5.1 million unit at Amber Skye on Amber Road, while the highest OCR sale came from a $ 3.6 million unit in Grand Duchess at St Patrick’s in Marine Parade.
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