Condo resale prices flat between July and August

SRX Property data indicates that sales volume fell 13.6% in August, which observers attribute to growing economic uncertainty and the effect of the Hungry Ghost month

Wed, Sep 11, 2019

VIVIENNE TAY


SINGAPORE resale condominium and apartment prices remain unchanged for the month of August, while volume of sales fell from the previous month, going by monthly figures from real estate portal SRX Property on Tuesday.

There had been a 0.5 per cent drop in July from June, which in turn saw a drop from the figure in May.

Year on year, overall prices edged up 0.2 per cent from August 2018.

Sales volume fell 13.6 per cent, with 751 units transacted in August, compared with 869 units resold in July.

OrangeTee & Tie's head of research and consultancy Christine Sun attributed this to the "double whammy" of growing economic uncertainties and the Chinese Hungry Ghost month in August.

Year on year, however, sales volume was 4.3 per cent higher than in August 2018; it was also above the 12-month average of 702 units from August 2018 to July 2019, she noted.

However, SRX data - taking a longer-term view - showed that sales volume was 1.7 per cent lower than the five-year average volume for August.

By price segments, 78.8 per cent of sales volume came from units under S$2 million, 15.8 per cent from units in the S$2 million to S$5 million range, 4 per cent from the S$5 million to S$10 million range and 1.4 per cent from condos above S$10 million.

The biggest increase of 1.1 per cent in the month came in the prices in the city fringes, or the rest of central region (RCR). Prices for the core central region (CCR) went up 0.4 per cent. Meanwhile, prices outside the central region (OCR) fell 0.9 per cent.

Year on year, overall resale prices rose 0.2 per cent. Prices in the RCR rose 1.9 per cent; those in the OCR inched up 0.1 per cent, while prices in the CCR dipped 2.2 per cent.

The most expensive condo resold in August was Le Nouvel Ardmore, where a unit was sold for S$15.7 million, at S$4,000 per square foot.

In the RCR, the highest transacted price was a six-bedroom penthouse unit at Sennett Residence. It was resold for $5.5 million.

In the OCR, the highest transacted price was a 35-year-old, freehold unit in Thomson Grove, which was resold for S$2.7 million.

Ms Sun added that resale home prices in the CCR and RCR have risen in tandem with higher launch prices of new projects in these market segments. The higher prices in the new launches could have come from their freehold status, better-quality finishings, as well as their choice locations. "Some projects were also acquired at higher land costs during the last collective sales cycle," she added.

Overall transaction over X-value (TOX) was negative S$10,000 in August, an improvement from negative S$11,000 in July. TOX measures how much a buyer is overpaying (positive value) or underpaying (negative value) for a property based on SRX's computer-generated market value. The data includes only districts with more than 10 resale transactions.

The highest median TOX was recorded in District 4's Sentosa and Harbourfront, with a positive S$45,600 value. This is followed by District 3's Alexandra and Commonwealth, with a positive S$15,000 value.

Areas with the lowest median TOX were District 10's Tanglin, Holland and Bukit Timah, which posted a negative S$91,000 value, followed by District 8's Farrer Park and Serangoon Road at negative S$49,000.