Buying activity remains tepid in March

Private home sales slowed more than 33% in March after picking up last month, given the cautious mood and overall fewer new launches. Developer sales remain fairly muted in the month of March with a total of 724 units launched and 480 units sold (excluding ECs); and only one new residential project— The Santorini, entered the market last month. The tight supply situation is a result of developers adopting a deliberate stance to time their launches and possibly adjust their pricing strategy appropriately before putting their product on the market.

Including ECs, developers found buyers for 535 homes, which also reflected a fall of 30% from the previous month’s figure of 769 units.

The Santorini – the top performer in March

The best-selling projects were, namely; The Santorini, which sold 76 units at a median price of $1,108psf, Eight Riversuites moved 44 units at $1,109psf. Rivertrees Residences found buyers for 35 units at $1,129psf and The Glades sold 27 units at $1,438psf.

Mr Mohamed Ismail, CEO of PropNex Realty commented: "With tightened loan policies, buyers are more discerning while developers are responding accordingly. The conditions today require developers to be more sensitive to the market where value for money is key. The lacklustre performance in March is largely due to only 1 major new project launch –The Santorini. It is interesting to note that momentum is picking up for units that were previously launched like the Eight Riversuites and The Glades that were launched several months ago.”

Analysing the figures, Mr Ismail, said, “the lacklustre transaction level (for the past 3 months) is evident that post TDSR, buyers have remained highly price sensitive. However, buying activities may see pick-up momentum in the next 2 months and into the next quarter, as there is already strong indication of interest for new private homes at the Commonweath Towers and Lakeville in Jurong. Some new launches in the pipeline like that of the former Yi Mei Gardens are likely to draw strong interests too. As such, we are predicting that the transactional volume of new homes in the range of between about 10,000-12,000 private homes excluding ECs, for the whole of 2014.”

Developers will tread with caution to read signs from buyers

Developers are likely to take on a cautious front and time their launches, keeping in mind that it is a buyers’ market now and there is general expectation of a price correction. Also, expect developers to continue minting a high proportion of small units in projects to keep quantum prices within reach of TDSR-constrained buyers. Due to the various restrictive cooling measures, investors may feel no great urgency to buy—as they wait for a more attractive entry point.

“Existing launches are still fairly muted compared to pre-TDSR days as buyers are increasingly selective with regard to their buying decisions. However, the good sales performance of Rivertrees and RiverBank in the mass market segment, and Hallmark Residences from the high-end segment (last month) could signal that underlying demand for real estate investment is still present. Potential buyers could be waiting for good bargains to come, so the key is to find the right price point at which buyers are comfortable with”.

For media enquiries, please contact: Carolyn Goh
Corporate Communications and Marketing Manager
P & N Holdings Pte Ltd (holding company of PropNex Realty)
480 Lorong 6 Toa Payoh #10-01 HDB Hub East Wing Singapore 310480
DID : (65) 6829 6968 / 98287834 | Main : (65) 6820 8000 | Fax : (65) 6829 6600
www.PropNex.com