Singapore new non-public houses gross sales drop to lowest since May 2020 amid CNY lull, dearth of launches

SINGAPORE – Developers in Singapore placed on sale extra new non-public houses from present initiatives final month however bought fewer items because of the typical Chinese New Year lull and the absence of main new launches.

Sentiment was additionally dampened by the prospect of rising rates of interest, a surge in Covid-19 circumstances following the festivities and heightened geopolitical tensions from the Russia-Ukraine conflict, analysts stated.

Buyers took up 527 non-public residential items, down practically 23 per cent from 680 in January and 18.3 per cent decrease than 645 a yr in the past, in accordance with Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) knowledge launched on Tuesday (March 15).

This is the bottom month-to-month new residence gross sales since 487 items had been bought in May 2020.

There was just one new launch – the 32-unit Royal Hallmark in Haig Lane – which bought 10 items final month at a median worth of $1,905 per sq. foot (psf).

Mr Ong Teck Hui, the senior director of analysis and consultancy at JLL, attributed builders’ cautious temper following the newest cooling measures to a “substantial increase in ABSD (additional buyer’s stamp duty) rates and tightening of the total debt service ratio (TDSR), which make it harder to assess demand and decide on pricing before launching projects”.

Developers rolled out 194 new houses final month, up practically 9 per cent from 178 in January and 16.2 per cent larger than 167 a yr earlier.

Including government condominiums (ECs), new non-public residence gross sales fell 23.6 per cent, to 559 items, from 732 items in January.

Despite headwinds from rising rates of interest and the Ukraine turmoil, a sturdy Housing Board resale market might proceed to help non-public housing gross sales, ERA Realty’s head of analysis and consultancy Nicholas Mak stated.

Upcoming new initiatives within the second quarter embrace Qingjian Realty’s The Arden in Phoenix Road, Bukit Sembawang’s Liv @ MB (former Katong Park Towers), Sing Holdings’ EC North Gaia in Yishun and City Developments and MCL Land’s Piccadilly Grand in Northumberland Road.

CBRE’s South-east Asia analysis head Tricia Song stated that, specifically, North Gaia is anticipated to carry out strongly as a consequence of demand from upgraders and first-time residence patrons, who’re largely unaffected by the rise in ABSD charges.

In the brief time period, the residential market might additionally profit from secure haven flows amid heightened geopolitical uncertainty, she added.

Ms Wong Siew Ying, head of analysis and content material at PropNex Realty, famous that the proportion of latest non-public houses (excluding ECs) purchased by foreigners remained secure at 4.9 per cent of general gross sales in February, up from 4.3 per cent in January.

Home purchases by foreigners rose to 26 items in February from 22 in December final yr, she added.

Singaporeans accounted for 79.3 per cent of February’s gross sales, whereas everlasting residents took up 15.6 per cent of items bought through the month.

Based on worth quantum, the most important proportion of latest non-public houses bought had been within the $1.5 million to $2 million vary, which made up 36 per cent of final month’s gross sales.

Ms Song stated: “This was followed by the $1 million to $1.5 million bracket, at 23.9 per cent, as affordability remained a key demand driver.”

Excluding ECs, the town fringe space accounted for just a little over 50 per cent of whole new gross sales, adopted by the suburbs (30.4 per cent) and the prime districts (19.2 per cent).

Last month’s prime sellers had been from present initiatives Normanton Park, Dairy Farm Residences, Avenue South Residence, The Florence Residences, One Pearl Bank and Fourth Avenue Residences.

The provide crunch might worsen this yr because the variety of new residence launches is anticipated to drop by one other 20 per cent to round 9,000 items (together with ECs), stated Ms Christine Sun, OrangeTee & Tie senior vice-president of analysis and analytics.

“While more land parcels will be released from the Government Land Sales programme in the first half of this year, the new homes will only enter the market next year,” she added.