Private resale prices up for fourth straight month: SRX

The resale market has rebounded strongly - after a slow second quarter which included the circuit breaker period - driven by pent-up demand. PHOTO: ST FILE

The private resale market continued to recover not just from the Covid-19 fallout but also from the 2018 property cooling measures, with prices and sales volume picking up again last month.

Overall resale prices climbed for the fourth consecutive month, rising 0.3 per cent month on month in November, according to flash figures from real estate portal SRX Property yesterday. Year on year, prices are up by 1.3 per cent over November last year.

Resale prices increased across the board last month, with prices in the core central region (CCR), rest of central region (RCR) and outside central region (OCR) rising by 0.5 per cent, 0.1 per cent and 0.3 per cent, respectively, from the previous month.

Meanwhile, private condominium resale volume rose by 1.4 per cent from October to 1,426 units last month, SRX data showed. That number is 83.5 per cent higher year on year, and 76 per cent more than the five-year average volume for the month of November.

Factoring in SRX's resale condo estimate for last month, the number of private home resale transactions reached more than 9,200 units in the first 11 months of this year - already surpassing the 8,949 units for the whole of last year, noted PropNex head of research and content Wong Siew Ying.

Private home resale volume could potentially cross 10,500 units this year, although it is not likely to hit the 13,009 units recorded in 2018, she said.

Demand for and prices of resale homes had been muted since property cooling measures were implemented in 2018, with monthly transactions falling below 1,000 units.

But from July to November this year, monthly sales have exceeded 1,000 units.

The resale market rebounded strongly after a slow second quarter which included the Covid-19 circuit breaker, driven by pent-up demand, a better match in price expectations between sellers and buyers, and returning confidence as the Singapore economy continues to recover, said Ms Wong.

OrangeTee & Tie head of research and consultancy Christine Sun said: "Many investors have already looked past current headwinds and are banking on a vaccine success, and are optimistic that the global economy may see better days ahead."

The highest transacted price last month was for a resale luxury apartment at Nassim Jade in prime District 10, which sold for $11.7 million.

The highest transacted price in the RCR (city fringes) was $6.9 million, for a unit at Corals at Keppel Bay in the HarbourFront area, while a unit at The Chuan in Lorong Chuan resold for $3.6 million, the highest price in the OCR.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on December 16, 2020, with the headline Private resale prices up for fourth straight month: SRX. Subscribe