Developer sales of private new homes in the city-state of Singapore during July surged to 1,594 units, more than four times the number of units sold in June 2015 and three times of that a year ago in July 2014.
But industry watchers are urging caution by reading too much into these numbers.
Excluding High Park Residences, the largest development launched in the month, developer sales volume in July dropped to just 425 units, fairly stable from that observed during the previous month.
In fact about 70 percent of transactions during July came entirely from newly-launched projects, the bulk of which came from just a single project: High Park Residences. The remaining 30 percent came from previously launched developments, pointing to the overall tepid demand according to real estate firm JLL.
High Park Residences is a 1,390-unit development located next to Thanggam LRT station, and the project’s location, supported by various amenities such as the LRT station and the shopping mall, together with its affordable median launch price of S$989 per sq ft helped to find buyers for 1,169 units.
Sengkang is not a new estate and there is latent, underlying upgrader demand from existing residents living in the neighbourhood, JLL reported.
This is possibly one factor driving the overall better performance of the two projects in the neighbourhood – High Park Residences and Riverbank@Fernvale, achieving sales rates of more than 80 percent to date.
Dr, Chua Yang Liang, Head of Research for Singapore and South East Asia for JLL, said: “In today’s market condition, the pricing of projects is a no brainer – affordability is the crux.
“Keeping the total quantum price for a decently sized unit within the affordable range of S$600,000 to S$1.4 million is key to a successful project.
“In my opinion, this stunning performance in July is an exception and it is not likely to cause a major shift in our forecast on the overall transaction volume. Towards this end, I hold on to my previously held view that new sales during 2015 should remain at between 6,500 to 7,500 units,” added Dr, Chua.
