Christine Sun, Head of Research and Consultancy at OrangeTee and Tie noted that people were more acutely aware of the need to acquire larger unit “to set up a dedicated workspace or small office at home”.
Singaporean home purchases hit a new high in the third quarter of 2020, accounting for 80.7% of total non-landed home buyers with 4,754 sales, according to an OrangeTee and Tie report.
The figure is the highest proportion since the first quarter of 2009 at 82.5%.
Meanwhile, Singapore Permanent Residents (PRs) purchased 901 non-landed homes in Q3 2020, while non-PRs acquired 215 units.
Mainland Chinese continued to be the top foreign buyer, purchasing 225 non-landed homes in Q3 2020. Buyers from Malaysia came in second, buying 122 units, followed by those from India and Indonesia who bought 113 units and 42 units, respectively.
The buyers for another 421 units “were classified as foreign unspecified”.
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Christine Sun, Head of Research and Consultancy at OrangeTee and Tie, said most buyers acquired homes below $2 million during the quarter under review.
She revealed that 60% of mainland Chinese buyers snapped homes ranging between $500,000 and $1.5 million. Almost 20% went for pricier homes above $3 million, of which 19 were above $5 million.
In terms of price per sq ft (psf), most Mainland Chinese buyers acquired homes priced below $18,000 per sq m or $1,672 psf.
District 19 emerged as the most popular district among Mainland Chinese buyers, followed by Districts 5, 10 and 14.
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Sun also noted that more buyers were snapping up larger condominiums in Q3 2020.
URA Realis data showed that the number of large condos at 1,200 sq ft and above rose 248.1% quarter-on-quarter and 32.0% year-on-year to 1,591 units in Q3 2020 – which is higher than the two-year average of 1,040 units.
In fact, the hike in sales for larger condos can be observed across all market segments. The number of bigger condos soared 283.5% quarter-on-quarter to 487 units in the Rest of Central Region (RCR), 254.1% quarter-on-quarter to 772 units in Outside Central Region (OCR) and 196.4% quarter-on-quarter to 332 units in Core Central Region (CCR).
Sun shared that they have also observed an increase transaction for landed properties.
“In Q3 2020, a total of 598 landed homes changed hands, more than doubling the previous quarter’s 212. This is also the strongest quarter since 775 landed homes were sold in Q2 2018.”
She attributed the increase to people being more acutely aware of the need to acquire larger unit “to set up a dedicated workspace or small office at home”.
“Some astute buyers may be seizing the opportunity to buy a bigger home at the current ‘lower price point’ since prices are likely to rise after the pandemic or when a vaccine is found,” she added.
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