Developer sales remained tepid in September

Transaction volume remained tepid in September as developers sold 341 new private homes, down 31 per cent from the 495 units sold in August. The lacklustre sales came as developers launched just 391 new units for sale (all excluding ECs), or down about 34 per cent from the 598 units launched in the previous month.

“Developers will remain focused on moving units by attractively pricing the new projects and September saw some of these projects that are centrally located that drew the attention and interest. We predict that home seekers will remain selective for the remainder of the year, with a project’s location and price points as the main drivers of demand. The current lack of mass market launches has also contributed to an inertia to commit as buyers remained on the sidelines,” commented Mr Ismail Gafoor, CEO of PropNex Realty.

In the first three quarters 2015, developers sold 5,963 private homes, down just slightly over 1 per cent decline from the 6,030 in Q3 2014, and a 53 per cent drop from the 12,666 units taken up in Q3 2013. This shows the sustained impact of the slowdown since the TDSR framework was imposed in June 2013. Based on the above trend, private new home sales could be headed for an annual take up of about 8,000 units in 2015 — one of the lowest in recent years.

Source: URA, PropNex research

OCR region most active

Outside Central Region (OCR) accounted for the bulk of private home sales in September with 253 units sold (or 74.2 per cent) with the balance attributed to Rest of Central Region – which sold 68 units (RCR) (or 19.9 per cent) and Core Central Region which sold 20 units (CCR) (or 5.9 per cent).

Source: URA, PropNex research

Signature at Yishun - the chart-topping project in September

Even though the private residential market was soft, some projects still enjoyed relatively good sales if they were perceived to be attractively priced by buyers, buying demand was not totally absent in the market but it had to be drawn out by attractive pricing.

The 5 top-selling projects were:

Source: URA, PropNex research

Homebuyers expected to be highly quantum sensitive

The continued enforcement of cooling measures will continue to sap demand and this will prevent any market pick up from being sustained. Mr Ismail also noted that home seekers will remain selective for the remainder of the year, with a project’s location and price points as the main drivers of demand.

The luxury segment will continue to be weighed down by anemic demand amid the more restrictive home buying environment. The higher price tags of the luxury/super-luxury homes inevitably served as a deterrent as potential buyers will have difficulty in obtaining loans for higher value properties. For foreigners, the ABSD will continue to be a stumbling block in their consideration for a purchase.

CEO of PropNex, Mr Mohd Ismail concluded, “It is now a certainty that buyers will take longer to come to a purchasing decision. In a buyer’s market whereby developers are competing for the same group of buyers, only projects with good attributes such as location and good pricing will stand out.”

“The last quarter of 2015 should see a strong transaction volume due to the impending launches of both Principal Garden, The Andrew Residences and another project in Thomson”, commented Mr Ismail Gafoor.

For media enquiries, please contact:

Carolyn Goh
Senior Manager
Corporate Communications and Marketing
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 6748 / 98287834 | Main : (65) 6820 8000 | Fax : (65) 6829 6600
www.PropNex.com

Algene Hong
Senior Executive
Corprate Communications
PropNex Realty
480 Lorong 6 Toa Payoh #10-01 HDB Hub East Wing Singapore 310480
DID : (65) 6829 6746 | Main : (65) 6820 8000
Fax : (65) 6829 6600
www.PropNex.com