Experts attributed the lack of new launches to the decline in sales. However, new home sales are still expected to cross the 10,000 by the end of the year. Photo: The Watergardens At Canberra by UOL.
New private home sales in August declined 23.6% to 1,215 units (excluding executive condominiums (ECs)) from 1,591 units in July, showed data released by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) on Wednesday (15 September).
On an annual basis, new homes sales fell 3.4%.
Leonard Tay, Head of Research at Knight Frank Singapore, attributed the decline to a lack of new launches.
Among last month’s new launches, The Watergardens At Canberra sold nearly 60% of its 448 units, on the back of large upgrading demand from the HDB market. It emerged as the best-selling project in August, followed by Normanton Park, The Florence Residences, Midwood and Treasure at Tampines.
Also on the top ten list are Dairy Farm Residences, Parc Clematis, Leedon Green, The Jovell and Avenue South Residences.
Huttons Asia CEO Mark Yip noted that despite the Lunar Seventh Month, developers still managed to sell over 1,000 units, which was higher compared to the same period last year.
“Buyers are probably less concerned about committing to a home purchase during the Seventh Month nowadays,” he said.
Excluding ECs, the Outside Central Region (OCR) accounted for 59.3% of total sales in August, while the Rest of Central Region (RCR) and Core Central Region (CCR) made up 28.2% and 12.5%, respectively.
Of the total transactions in August, 47.5% were priced below $1.5 million, 28.4% were between $1.5 million and $2 million, while 24.1% were above $2 million.
Singaporeans accounted for 85.4% of the acquisitions, while Permanent Residents (PRs) and foreigners made up 10.5% and 4.1%, respectively.
Looking ahead, Tay believes new private home sales will “cross the 10,000 mark by year-end, and is more than likely to reach 12,000 transactions for the entire year”.
Yip also sees 12,000 new sales for this year.
He noted that two new launches are expected in September – Bartley Vue and Jervois Mansion – while more launches are lined up in the last quarter of the year – namely, Belgravia Ace, Amber Sea, Canninghill Piers, Cairnhill 16, Perfect 10, Mori, and The Commodore.
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Victor Kang, Digital Content Specialist at PropertyGuru, edited this story. To contact him about this story, email: victorkang@propertyguru.com.sg
