SINGAPORE - The resale market for non-landed private homes showed the effects of the 2018 property cooling measures with prices rising just 1.7 per cent in 2019 and transactions sliding by more than a quarter over the previous year, according to flash figures from real estate portal SRX Property on Tuesday (Jan 14).
For December alone, private resale prices finished flat after dipping 0.2 per cent in November.
All areas in Singapore saw small price increases in 2019: the core central region (CCR) or prime districts by 1.5 per cent, the rest of the central region (RCR) or city fringes by 0.6 per cent and the outside of central region (OCR) by 2.3 per cent.
A total of 9,017 resale non-landed private homes were sold last year, 27.4 per cent lower than in 2018, according to SRX figures.
Ms Christine Sun, head of research and consultancy at OrangeTee and Tie, said the stronger sales volume in 2018 was mainly driven by a higher number of homes sold in the first half of 2018, before the cooling measures were implemented in July. Demand for resale homes then remained subdued in the second half of 2018.
She also attributed last year's lacklustre demand to stiff competition from many new project launches and weaker market sentiment.
Ms Sun said, however, that year-on-year sales volume from August to December has risen, suggesting that the resale market may be slowly recovering.
For December, for example, an estimated 650 units were resold, 15.4 per cent less than November's 768 units, but 21.5 per cent higher year on year and 15.3 more than the five-year average volume for the month, SRX flash data show.
"Although buying sentiment may continue to recover, competition for buyers will remain stiff given the pipeline of new supply that will be entering the market," Ms Sun said.
She sees resale prices rising by a slight 1 to 3 per cent this year, with demand for resale homes continuing to trend between 8,000 and 9,000 units in 2020.
SRX data also shows that the highest transacted price for a resale unit in December came from an apartment at Four Seasons Park in Cuscaden Walk, within prime district 10, which went for $17.9 million.
In the RCR, the most expensive sale was achieved by a unit at Reflections at Keppel Bay, which was sold for $7.2 million. In the OCR, the highest transacted price was for a unit at Bayshore Park in the East Coast, which went for $3.2 million.
A SRX indicator measuring how much a buyer is overpaying (positive value) or underpaying (negative value) for a property based on its computer-generated market value saw no change in December. The data for the overall transaction over X-value (TOX) includes only districts with more than 10 resale transactions. A $0 TOX means buyers are getting units at the estimated market value.
TOX for last month stayed at negative $2,000.
The highest median TOX was recorded in district 9's Orchard and River Valley areas at positive $30,000, followed by district 8's Farrer Park and Serangoon Road at positive $28,000.
District 17's Changi Airport/Changi Village posted the lowest median TOX at negative $54,000, followed by district 23's Farrer Park/Serangoon Road at negative $30,500.
