Condo resale price growth slows in June as volume falls 19.7%
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
On a year-on-year basis, condo resale prices were up 8.5 per cent, with those in the suburbs rising the most at 10.1 per cent.
PHOTO: ST FILE
Follow topic:
SINGAPORE - The price growth of resale condominiums slowed in June – mainly due to a drop in prices in the prime segment – as fewer units were sold overall on the back of property cooling measures.
Condominium resale prices inched up for the fifth straight month in June, rising at a slower rate of 0.1 per cent compared with May’s 0.9 per cent,
On a year-on-year basis, prices were up by 8.5 per cent, with those in the suburbs rising the most at 10.1 per cent, data showed.
Property analysts said the higher additional buyer’s stamp duty (ABSD) rates introduced in end-April could have contributed to the 2.6 per cent price drop in the core central region. Foreigners were hit with the highest ABSD hike, which doubled to 60 per cent.
Huttons Asia chief executive Mark Yip said this was the steepest fall in the central area in three years, with the number of units sold above $10 million plunging to just one in June, down from 10 in May.
The only such transaction in June was a $13 million deal for a 3,089 sq ft unit at The Marq On Paterson Hill – a freehold luxury development in the Orchard Road area – bought by an Australian permanent resident, said Mr Yip.
PropNex Realty’s head of research and content Wong Siew Ying noted that the number of foreign buyers continued to fall in June.
They accounted for 1.9 per cent of total resale volume, easing from 3.8 per cent in May and 4.9 per cent in April.
Prices in the city fringe went up by 1.2 per cent, while the suburbs recorded 0.4 per cent growth.
This indicates that sellers held firm to their asking prices despite the large gap in expected prices between buyers and sellers, said OrangeTee & Tie senior vice-president of research and analytics Christine Sun.
“Some buyers may have expected prices to moderate after April’s cooling measures. This may have led to fewer deals being closed in recent months, which have come down from a high of 1,141 units in March 2023,” she said.
Meanwhile, resale volume fell by 19.7 per cent, with an estimated 778 units changing hands in June, down from 969 units in May. This was likely due to the June school holiday seasonal lull, analysts said.
Compared with June 2022, resale volume declined by 31.1 per cent. The number transacted was also lower than the five-year average for the month of June.
Ms Wong said the 15-month wait-out period for owners of private residential property who wish to buy an HDB resale flat, as well as high interest rates, continues to affect the market.
“The impact from the 15-month wait-out period, coupled with already limited resale stock, has put a drag on condo resale transactions for the most part since September 2022,” she said.
Owners of multiple homes may prefer to rent out their property instead of selling them, as it would be more costly to buy another property due to higher ABSD rates, she added.
In June, condos in the suburbs accounted for 48.9 per cent of total condo sales. Homes in the city fringes accounted for 34.5 per cent, while the remaining 16.6 per cent were in core central Singapore.
In the city fringes, the highest transacted price was $5 million for a 99-year leasehold 2,809 sq ft unit at Pebble Bay in Tanjong Rhu.
In the suburban areas, a 2,336 sq ft unit at The Dairy Farm, a freehold condo in Bukit Panjang, sold for $3.55 million.
