SINGAPORE - Shares of property firms PropNex and APAC Realty shot up on Thursday (July 15) before the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) announced a slight dip in private home sales for June in the afternoon.
PropNex surged to a high of $2.21 in the morning before closing at $2.10, up 11 cents or 5.3 per cent on trade of 3.6 million.
The company was queried on Thursday morning by the Singapore Exchange Regulation (SGX Regco) on whether it was aware of any information not previously announced that might explain the unusual trading of its shares.
Propnex responded to the SGX query on Thursday night, saying it was not aware of any information not previously announced concerning the company. But it added that "as Singapore's largest listed real estate agency, PropNex is a direct beneficiary of the resilient Singapore property market and the positive economic outlook".
Shares of APAC Realty, another Singapore-listed property firm, which hit an intraday high of 86 cents on Thursday, closed up six cents or 7.9 per cent. The firm was not queried by the SGX.
PropNex extended its climb on Firday morning, trading at $2.15 at 10.30am, up five cents or 2.4 per cent. APAC Realty shares were unchanged.
Despite heightened restrictions and a labour shortage in the construction sector, new private home sales came in at 859 units in June - down just 2.6 per cent on the 872 sold in May but 12.6 per cent lower than June last year when 998 units were moved, according to Thursday's URA data.
PropNex chief executive Ismail Gafoor said the June sales figures were "resilient" given stricter pandemic management measures and the fact that there were no new project launches at all during the month.
"In view of these circumstances, we think developers' sales in June were actually very decent, driven by projects that have already been put on the market", Mr Gafoor said.
He added that the sales figures were generally comparable with previous new home sales numbers for the same month prior to the pandemic.
Freehold development Hyll on Holland was the best-seller for the month, with a median price of $2,387 per square foot, while mega projects like Treasure At Tampines continued to sell units at a median price of $1,411 psf and Normanton Park units were going at $1,821 psf.
PropNex expects new home sales to climb given consumer confidence is returning to the market with several new projects slated to launch this month and the months ahead, including Pasir Ris 8, Watergardens at Canberra and Parc Greenwich.
The firm projects total new private homes (excluding ECs) of between 11,000 and 12,000 units this year, barring any unforeseen events and new cooling measures.
