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Thread: Sales of new private homes hit 3-year high

  1. #1
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    Default Sales of new private homes hit 3-year high

    http://www.straitstimes.com/premium/...-high-20121016

    Sales of new private homes hit 3-year high

    Last month's figure up 84%; analysts expect lower volume after loan curbs

    Published on Oct 16, 2012

    By Amanda Tan


    NEW private home sales jumped by about 84 per cent last month compared with August, to 2,621 units sold, the highest monthly figure since July 2009.

    The latest spike in sales came as the National Development Ministry revealed that 26,800 HDB flats, 22,400 non-landed private homes and 1,100 landed homes are set to be completed in 2014.

    This is a sharp rise in supply compared with the 11,300 HDB flats, 12,500 non-landed private homes and 700 landed homes due for completion this year.

    The figures were part of a parliamentary written response to Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC MP Gan Thiam Poh yesterday.

    The latest sales figures for last month, released by the Urban Redevelopment Authority yesterday, pre-date new cooling measures unveiled earlier this month, which included loan term curbs.

    One reason for last month's surge was that August's figure of only 1,427 units - a 27 per cent drop from July's number - was partly due to the inauspicious Hungry Ghost Festival.

    But the sharp rise is less dramatic when executive condominiums (ECs) are factored in. When EC sales are included, last month's figure of 2,771 units sold falls short of the 3,138 homes moved in February.

    ERA Realty key executive officer Eugene Lim noted that last month's 2,621 non-EC sales are the highest since July 2009's peak of 2,772 units.

    Knight Frank research head Png Poh Soon said the 17,913 units sold by developers in the first nine months of the year have already topped the previous full-year record in 2010 of 16,292. He expects that this year's total could hit 21,000 units.

    Mr Lee Sze Teck, senior manager of training, research and consultancy at Dennis Wee Group, said another reason for the pick-up in sales could be the narrowing gap between resale and new prices.

    Data from the Singapore Real Estate Exchange Residential Property Flash Report found resale prices of non-landed private homes had some of their strongest gains in the past year last month, up 2.5 per cent from August. In contrast, average prices in the primary new sales market fell 2.2 per cent.

    The 748-unit eCO, along Bedok South Avenue 3, was the top performer, selling 402 units of the 513 launched in the month.

    Last month's take-up rate exceeds the 2,224 new private units launched - a sign that "demand is still healthy enough to absorb the new supply", SLP International research head Nicholas Mak said.

    Mr Lim reckons this month's volume will be lower, owing to the recent measures. But Savills research head Alan Cheong tips strong sales of up to 2,251 units excluding ECs, with strong response to projects including eCO, Skies Miltonia and Riversails.

    Mr Wilfred Goh, 49, head of compliance in an insurance firm, who bought a unit at the EC,

    1 Canberra, for $978,000, said: "I feel that recent launches are overpriced... this is a value buy."

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    http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/prem...-high-20121016

    Published October 16, 2012

    Developer sales surge to 3-year high

    Buyers keep snapping up units as fast as developers keep launching them

    By Kalpana Rashiwala


    [SINGAPORE] Developers' private home sales surged to a three-year high in September, taking the tally for the first nine months past the full-year 2010 record and underscoring the need for the latest cooling measures.

    The 2,621 private homes, excluding executive condos (ECs), sold last month were 83.7 per cent more than the 1,427 units in August and the highest since July 2009's 2,772 units. The numbers were released by the Urban Redevelopment Authority yesterday.

    This means that in the first nine months of this year alone, developers have found buyers for 17,927 homes - up 12.7 per cent from 15,904 units for the whole of last year and surpassing the full-year 2010 record of 16,292 units by around 10 per cent.

    Market watchers generally attribute the surge in September sales to high liquidity/low interest rates and a jump in new launches. Developers launched 2,224 private homes last month, double the 1,118 units in August. Some developers held back releasing projects until after the Ghosts Month ended in mid-September. That also coincided with the announcement of QE3 in the US.

    The preliminary Q3 2012 developer sales tally now stands at 5,999 units (the final number will be released on Oct 29). Most property consultants reckon sales will slow this quarter, ending the year at 21,000-22,000 units.

    While the restrictions on home loan tenures could take some demand away, property remains an attractive option. "Because of a lack of investment alternatives, real estate comes across as quite compelling," said DTZ South-east Asia chief operating officer Ong Choon Fah.

    "No 1, land is scarce in Singapore, although there will still be cycles. No 2, investors believe that if they put their money in real estate, they're unlikely to lose a significant part of it. There are so many ways you can consume property - besides living in it, you could rent it out, use it as a weekend home, let a nephew who has just married live in it for the time being."

    The September sales volume was also up 60.7 per cent year on year.

    Home buying continued to be dominated by Outside Central Region (OCR), where suburban condos are located. The 2,062 units in this location that developers sold last month was a 146 per cent jump from 837 units in August as well as a new monthly benchmark sales record for OCR, notes Colliers International director Chia Siew Chuin.

    Three major projects - Riversails in Upper Serangoon Crescent, Kovan Regency and eCO at Bedok South Avenue 3 - together contributed to sales of 974 units in September - or 37.2 per cent of developers' total sales in the month.

    For eCO, 402 units were transacted at a median price of $1,283 psf, making it the top-selling project, followed by Kovan Regency (369 units at $1,275 psf median price), Riversails (203 units), Foresque Residences (104 units) and Bartley Residences (78 units).

    Upcoming launches could include Eco Sanctuary at Chestnut Avenue and The Sennett.

    URA figures yesterday also show that developers sold 150 ECs (a public-private hybrid housing) last month, up from 118 units in August. This takes the preliminary Q3 tally for ECs to 392 units - and that for the first nine months to 2,818 units, not far off the 2,883 units last year.

    "We expect the pace of EC sales to pick up in Q4 with the launch of Heron Bay (394 units), Waterbay (383 units) and one or two other new projects," said CBRE executive director Joseph Tan.

    September's priciest deal (in per square foot terms) was a unit in The Marq on Paterson Hill which sold for $6,215 psf, followed by a unit at Skyline@Orchard Boulevard which fetched $5,011 psf. Savills Singapore research head Alan Cheong predicts sales of around 2,000-2,200 units excluding ECs in October and Q4 sales of about 5,200 units.

    He expects URA's private home price index to increase around 10 per cent next year.

    "Developers may have to keep prices going upwards for new launches in order to keep moving unsold units in earlier projects. The private housing market is now caught in a loop, with low interest rates, HDB buttressing the market base, and a perception that you cannot lose long term if you invest in real estate feeding expectations of further price increases. That will keep the momentum going strong."

    Amid rising home sales, the government yesterday rolled out five residential sites and reiterated that it is ready to act, if and when necessary, to keep a good handle on the property market.

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    URA says volume going up.
    MND minister say price going down.

    Really? New sales are cheaper than resale?

  4. #4
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    How to go down when land bid price, labour cost, material cost are all going up.
    Quote Originally Posted by carbuncle
    URA says volume going up.
    MND minister say price going down.

    Really? New sales are cheaper than resale?

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