Resale prices of non-landed private homes picked up slightly last month after a tepid August but sale volumes dipped, according to data out yesterday.
Overall condominium resale prices rose 0.8 per cent last month from the same month last year.
All regions saw price gains: The core central region rose 1.8 per cent followed by the suburbs or outside central region, which was up 0.6 per cent. The city fringes or rest of central region added 0.2 per cent.
Overall resale prices were up 0.2 per cent from August, when values had been flat from July.
There were 743 condo units resold last month, down 1.5 per cent from the 754 moved in August, data from real estate portal SRX Property noted yesterday.
This is the second consecutive month of decline, as volumes tumbled 13.6 per cent in August amid the Hungry Ghost Festival or seventh lunar month.
Ms Christine Sun, head of research and consultancy at OrangeTee & Tie, said: "Buyers will usually return to the market after the seventh lunar month, but it takes time for the sales to be converted. The transactions may be reflected only about two months later."
Mr Nicholas Mak, head of research and consultancy at ERA Realty, noted that there were more private residential projects launched last month, drawing buying demand from the resale market and preventing an increase in transaction volumes after the Hungry Ghost Festival lull period.
Some of the new condos launched last month included Avenue South Residence, Meyer Mansion, Cuscaden Reserve and Uptown @ Farrer, he added.
Resale volumes were 8.5 per cent higher last month than in the same month last year, according to SRX.
Volumes also remained healthy, 5.2 per cent higher than the average of 706 units resold in the previous 12-month period starting from September last year.
Transactions have risen since the third quarter last year after cooling measures were implemented in July.
Advanced estimates using SRX data show that the total condo resale volume for the third quarter this year could hit 2,378 units, surpassing the 2,336 transactions inked in the second quarter, said OrangeTee's Ms Sun.
Most condo resale volumes last month came from the suburbs, which accounted for 53.1 per cent of transactions. The city fringes made up 28.2 per cent, while 18.7 per cent came from the core central region.
The two most expensive condo units resold last month were in the core central region, with both changing hands at $32 million.
One was in TwentyOne Angullia Park, which transacted at $4,146 per square foot (psf), while the other at 3 Orchard-By-The-Park was resold for $4,638 psf.
The rest of central region's costliest resold unit was in the Caribbean at Keppel Bay, at $6.3 million, while the highest transacted price in the outside central region was $3.5 million, for a unit at Mandarin Gardens.
