Singapore condo resale prices extend climb in October: SRX

They rose 0.8 per cent in October from the previous month while sales volume rose 3.6 per cent with 807 units resold

Wed, Nov 13, 2019

VIVIENNE TAY


RESALE prices for non-landed private residential properties in Singapore continued their rise in October following an increase in September, while volumes picked up from a slight dip, according to flash figures from real estate portal SRX Property on Tuesday.

Condominium resale prices rose 0.8 per cent in October from the previous month, faster than the 0.4 per cent increase in September following three straight months of small dips.

Sales volume for the month rose 3.6 per cent with 807 units resold compared with 779 units in September.

Year-on-year, condo resale prices were up 2 per cent, while volumes were 14.8 per cent higher. Resale volume was also 6.3 per cent higher than the five-year average volume for the month of October.

All regions saw month-on-month price increases, with prices in the core central region (CCR) seeing the highest rise at one per cent.

Prices in the outside of central region (OCR) were up 0.8 per cent, while prices in the city fringes - or rest of central region (RCR) - were up 0.7 per cent.

In October, 53 per cent of the volume came from OCR, followed by 27.5 per cent from RCR and 19.5 per cent from CCR.

The highest transacted price for a resale unit for October went to a unit at The Marq On Paterson Hill for S$29.5 million, which translated to about S$4,677 per square foot.

In the RCR, the highest transacted price was a Coral At Keppel Bay unit which went for S$8.75 million. As for the OCR, the highest transacted price was a Mandarin Gardens unit resold for S$2.7 million.

Strong underlying demand and market optimism for new homes may have "spilled over" to the secondary market, said OrangeTee & Tie's head of research and consultancy Christine Sun. This lifted both prices and sales volume for the resale market in October.

But while prices of resale homes increased last month, the price growth is still slower than that of many new home sales, she said.

Hence, some buyers may have considered buying resale homes since resale prices have risen slower than new home prices in general, said Ms Sun.

According to Nicholas Mak, head of research and consultancy at ERA Realty, buoyancy in the condo resale market was partly due to the effects from the marketing activities of new launches in September and October. This drew home buyers to the market, including those buying in the resale market.

"The marketing activities in the primary market had stimulated the resale transaction volume, which in turn led to an increase in the resale price index," he said.

New condominiums launched in September 2019 include Cuscaden Reserve, Avenue South Residences, Meyer Mansion, The Antares and Uptown @ Farrer. Projects such as Sengkang Grand Residences, Royalgreen, Midtown Bay, Neu at Novena and Midwood were launched in October.

After being stuck in negative territory since July, the overall transaction over X-value (TOX) improved by S$10,000 from September to reach S$0 in October.

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 only includes districts with more than 10 resale transactions. A S$0 TOX means buyers are buying units at the estimated market value.

The highest median TOX was recorded in District 20's Ang Mo Kio, Bishan and Thomson with a positive S$30,000 value, followed by District 4's Sentosa and Harbourfront at a positive S$28,000 value.

The lowest median TOX meanwhile was recorded in District 26's Mandai and Upper Thomson with a negative S$35,000 value, followed by District 25's Admiralty and Woodlands at a negative S$30,000 value.

OrangeTee's Ms Sun said resale home demand may continue to rise especially in areas where there are currently many newly-launched projects.

But there could also be some downward pressure on resale home demand due to the completion of more private homes in recent months. The supply of new homes is also expected to grow further.

"Therefore, resale home prices may continue to rise albeit at a slower pace for the rest of the year," she said.