SINGAPORE - The private home market resumed its upward momentum in November with sales up nearly 19 per cent month on month following a 225 per cent surge in the number of new homes launched.
Last month's uptick in sales to 767 units from 645 in October came following a temporary pullback in October's sales after the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) clamped down on the re-issue of options to purchase.
"November's healthy sales indicate that not all segments of the market were affected by the new curbs on the re-issuing of OTPs. There are many genuine buyers who can afford a private home without applying for an OTP extension," said Ms Christine Sun, OrangeTee & Tie's head of research and consultancy.
She said vaccine optimism has bolstered investor confidence over Singapore's economic recovery and raised hopes that the global Covid-19 pandemic may soon be under control.
Existing projects continued to sell at a steady pace, Ms Wong Siew Ying, head of research and content, PropNex, noted. "About 70 per cent (or 540 units) of November's sales were from projects already on the market."
The private home market's resilience could well spillover into December, analysts say. With pandemic-led travel restrictions throwing a spanner into most outbound holiday plans, December is likely to be anything but a lull period for property sales, said PropNex chief executive Ismail Gafoor.
"With two new projects out in December - Ki Residences and Clavon which have respectively sold 143 and 442 units during their launch - we expect new home sales to cross the 1,000-unit mark this month," he said.
Small wonder that developers are gearing up for more new launches instead of typically winding down for the holidays. Some 13 new projects expected to hit the market in the coming months include Normanton Park with 1862 units, The Reef at King's Dock with 429 units and Midtown Modern with 558 units. Two ECs - Parc Central Residences and Provence Residence - are expected to launch, ERA Realty's head of research and consultancy Nicholas Mak said.
But November's sales are still down 34 per cent from 1,165 units sold in the same month last year, even as the number of new units launched last month jumped 45 per cent year on year to 1,375 units.
The figures from the URA on Tuesday (Dec 15) exclude executive condominium (EC) units, which are a public-private housing hybrid.
If ECs are included, 815 new private homes were sold last month, up nearly 19 per cent from October and down 31.3 per cent from a year earlier, URA data showed. There were no EC units launched last month.
Two new projects in the city-fringe or rest of central region - the 120-unit The Linq @ Beauty World and 396-unit The Landmark - topped the best-sellers' list in November. The Linq @ Beauty World sold 118 units at a median price of $2,171 per square foot (psf), while The Landmark shifted 109 units at a median price of $2,135 psf.
Collectively, both projects accounted for nearly 30 per cent (227 units) of total new home sales during the month, PropNex said.
More than 30 per cent of sales were in the suburbs or outside central region (OCR) and 11 per cent were in the prime or core central region (CCR).
The best-selling projects were The Linq @ Beauty World, The Landmark, The Garden Residences and Treasure at Tampines.
Well-heeled buyers' appetite for pricier homes remained strong last month, with the number of new homes sold above $2,000 psf jumping to 393 units last month from 53 units in March this year.
"30 new private homes were sold above $3 million last month, the highest number recorded since January this year. Of this number, nine ultra-luxury homes above $5 million were transacted, two of which were low-floor units at Boulevard 88 that changed hands for more than $10 million," Ms Sun noted.
