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SINGAPORE – Resale condo prices held firm amid strong demand in September, with more than 1,000 units sold for three consecutive months.
An estimated 1,286 resale condos changed hands last month, 0.4 percent more than in August and 62.8 percent more than in September last year, according to flash figures from real estate portal SRX Property on Tuesday ( October 13).
Nicholas Mak, head of research and consulting at ERA Realty, said the Hungry Ghost Festival from Aug. 19 to Sept. 16, which some believe is an unfavorable period for making important decisions, did not stop home buyers from buying real estate .
“One reason is that some home buyers believe that the worst impact of the pandemic in Singapore is over and it is time to re-enter the market … the fear of losing is greater than the fear of hungry ghosts,” Mak said. . .
Christine Sun, director of research and consulting at OrangeTee & Tie, said there are more and more buyers in the resale market looking for “value purchases,” especially large, attractively priced resale units.
He said data from URA Realis showed that 33.9 percent of condo resale transactions in September were for units between 800 square feet and 1,200 square feet, while 47.7 percent of transactions were for units. larger than 1,200 square feet or more.
The resale transactions for September also included two bulk purchases of apartments in the Balestier Road area (12 units in Victory Point and 10 units in Crescent Building) by businesses, according to URA Realis data.
Despite the surge in demand, condo resale prices in September remained flat, slowly climbing 0.1 percent from August and by the same amount from the same month last year.
The central central region and the rest of the central region (RCR) registered a marginal increase in resale price of 0.5% and 0.8% respectively, while the outer central region (OCR) registered a decrease of 0, 5%.
A condo unit at Le Nouvel Ardmore in Tanglin that sold for $ 16.2 million was September’s most expensive resale purchase. In the City Outskirts or RCR, the highest price was for a $ 5.1 million unit at Camelot By-The-Water on Tanjong Rhu Road, while the highest sale in the OCR came from a $ 5.1 million unit. 4.8 million at The Trilinq in Clementi.
Going forward, Mak said the new restrictions on developers reissuing purchase options (OTPs) announced on September 28 may cause some buyers to explore the market for resale properties.
Under the terms of a standard OTP, buyers of new private homes have three weeks to reserve their right to purchase a property from a developer in exchange for a cash down payment, which is up to 5 percent of the unit price. If the buyer does not exercise the right to purchase, he may lose 25 percent of the reservation fee. But some developers had been reissuing OTPs to buyers, giving them more time to align the funds needed to make the purchase and avoid paying the additional buyer’s stamp duty.
“(Since) such practices are restricted, a home buyer who needs a full property after selling their existing home would look to the resale market because most of the properties in the primary market are still under development,” Mak said.
He added that potential construction delays due to closures on workers’ bedrooms could also make resale properties more attractive given the certainty of obtaining the keys to the property after the deal closes.
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