Share
SINGAPORE: Singapore’s home sales rose 13% in November from a year ago, as developers marketed new projects, ending four months of declines that followed loan measures to curb property prices.
Home sales rose to 1,228 units last month compared with 1,087 in November 2012, according to data from the Urban Redevelopment Authority released yesterday. From the previous month, sales increased 15%, the data showed.
“There have been a few major project launches in November and aggressive marketing by developers,” said Nicholas Mak, an executive director at SLP International Property Consultants in Singapore. He said the increase in sales last month was due to the fact that 94% of the homes marketed were sold, based on yesterday’s data.
Home sales rebounded in November after declining in the previous four months compared with year-ago figures after the government imposed new rules in June governing how financial institutions granted property loans to individuals.
Among the developers that began sales of their projects was Ophir-Rochor Residential Pte, which sold 600 of 660 units marketed at its Duo Residences, in the central area, according to the URA. Singland Homes (Alexandra) Pte sold 171 of 200 units at its Alex Residences project.
Record home prices amid low interest rates raised concerns of a housing bubble and prompted the city-state to introduce new taxes and higher minimum down-payments since 2009 to curb speculation in Asia’s second-most expensive housing market.
Home prices in the island-state rose at the slowest pace in six quarters in the three months ended Sept 30, according to figures released by the authority on Oct 25.
Prices and transaction volumes of Singapore residential properties are expected to moderate for the rest of the year due to the cumulative impact of government property measures, CapitaLand Ltd, Southeast Asia’s biggest developer said on Oct 31. Developers are beginning to cut prices in existing and new projects and take lower profit margins, City Developments Ltd, Singapore’s second-largest developer, said on Nov 12.
Singapore Residential Price Index, compiled by the National University of Singapore, slid 1.2% to 159.1 points in October after declining a revised 0.9% in September.
The island-state’s private residential property price index rose 0.4% to a record 216.2 points in the three months ended Sept 30, after climbing 1% in the second quarter, URA data last month showed. That was the smallest gain since the first quarter of 2012, when the index dropped 0.1%. — Bloomberg
This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on December 17, 2013.
