No residential sales during Ghost Month auctions: Colliers

[mr funny]

http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/sub/...62340,00.html?

Published September 9, 2010

No residential sales during Ghost Month auctions: Colliers

By LYNN KAN


AUCTION figures from Colliers International suggest buyers backed off during the Hungry Ghost Month this year.

Only three properties - none of them residential - sold at auction, fetching a total of $5.23 million.

In contrast, 14 transactions worth $25.92 million took place during the Ghost Month last year. And most of them - accounting for $18.98 million - were residential.

Some 44 residential properties were put up for sale during this year's Ghost Month. Colliers International's deputy managing director (Agency and Business Services) Grace Ng reckons that their failure to sell has less to do with cultural taboos and more to do with buyer savvy. 'It could be attributed to sellers' increased expectations and higher asking prices, leading to a longer period of marketing and negotiations as buyer resistance set in over time,' she said.

During this year's Ghost Month from Aug 10 to Sept 7, a total of 51 properties were put up for auction.

Only seven of them were mortgagee sales - the lowest number in 13 years and the lowest monthly tally this year, which Colliers said reflects a buoyant economy, high employment, low interest rates and a robust property market.

Auction sales so far this year total $114.65 million. And Colliers believes that the full-year figure will likely be close to last year's $168.4 million, despite the government recently announcing cooling measures that will have 'an impact on the property auction market in the short term'.

'Buyers will now be more careful when doing their sums based on the reduced 70 per cent loan to valuation in financing, while sellers will be more realistic when setting their asking price,' Ms Ng said.

But, the new measures will have little effect on people eyeing landed properties in Districts 9, 10 and 11 as they are mostly owner-occupiers buying to stay for the medium to long term. Said Ms Ng: 'These buyers have the tendency to take a lower percentage of financing. Most of them would finance their purchase using cash from the sale of their first property.'

[mr funny]

http://www.straitstimes.com/Money/St...ry_576455.html

Sep 9, 2010

Hungry Ghost Festival hits property auctions

Only three deals worth $5.23m done during this usually slow period, the lowest since 1998

By Joyce Teo


THE Hungry Ghost Festival had an even more deadening effect on the property market than usual, with only three deals worth $5.23 million done by the nation's auction houses.

Sales during this year's festival period, which ended on Tuesday, were the lowest since 1998 when only $1.65 million worth of deals was done, according to data from Colliers International.

The comparison with last year's figures is even more striking: Then, 14 deals worth $25.92 million were struck, with nearly $19 million stemming from the residential sector.

This year, there were no residential deals, yet these traditionally form the bulk of auction sales.

Superstitious people tend to refrain from making big commitments such as marrying, buying property or moving house during the Hungry Ghost Festival, which falls on the seventh month of the lunar calendar.

But the lack of residential sales this year - despite 44 homes going up for auction - may have more to do with real estate issues.

Colliers' deputy managing director (agency and business services), Ms Grace Ng, said the lack of buying interest in residential properties could be 'attributed to sellers' increased expectations and higher asking prices'.

Knight Frank's head of residential auctions, Ms Sharon Lee, added: 'It's because the market has gone up a lot and buyers are more selective.

'Mass-market properties with a lower price quantum of below $1.5 million will generally still be attractive.'

Colliers said the three deals completed involved two shophouses in Dunlop Street in Little India sold as one property for $4.04 million, an HDB shop unit in Bishan that went for $910,000, and a strata factory unit in Toh Guan Centre worth $280,000.

The total number of properties put up for auction during the Hungry Ghost Festival remained high at 51 but there were only seven mortgagee sales, it said. This was the lowest figure registered during the Hungry Ghost Festival in 13 years and the lowest monthly figure this year.

Ms Ng said there has been a continued decline in the number of mortgagee sales and this is likely due to the buoyant economy, high employment figures, low interest rates and a robust property market.

The total sale value achieved at auctions so far this year is around $114.65 million. Colliers said full-year sales should be close to last year's $168.4 million.

Ms Ng expects the recent cooling measures to hit the auction market in the short term. 'Buyers will now be more careful in doing their sums based on the 70 per cent loan-to-value in financing, while sellers will be more realistic in setting their asking price.'

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