by SINGAPORE – Sales of new private homes in April dipped from March but they soared from a year ago, when Covid-19 circuit breaker curbs shut down all show-flats, and were the highest for the month since 2017.
Last month’s take-up of 1,262 units was a slight drop of 2.6 per cent from March’s strong tally of 1,296 units, and was up 356 per cent from 277 units in April 2020.
Developers, meanwhile, launched 1,038 units for sale in April, up 8 per cent from 959 units in March. Year on year, they launched 62 per cent more units.
The figures from the Urban Redevelopment Authority on Monday (May 17) exclude executive condominium (EC) units – a public-private housing hybrid.
Including ECs sold, developers moved 1,342 new homes last month – down 2.3 per cent from March, but up 358 per cent from a year ago. They launched 1,038 units for sale in April, up 8.2 per cent from March, and 62 per cent higher than a year ago.
After eight successful launches (excluding ECs) in the first 4½ months this year, the market is taking a breather and there will be no launches in the second half of May and all of June, said Mark Yip, chief executive of Huttons Asia.
The new restrictions under phase two (heightened alert) from May 16 to June 13could cool the market without a change in policies, he said.
“The lowered capacity of one person per 16 sq m and two per group in show-flats will lengthen the decision-making process for buyers and further lower the transaction volume in May and June. But virtual tours of the show-flats may help to mitigate this,” he added.
There may be up to five launches in July – Klimt Cairnhill, Pasir Ris 8, Perfect Ten, The Watergardens at Canberra and Parc Greenwich (EC).
Despite the dip in sales, a bigger proportion of pricier homes were sold, said Ms Christine Sun, OrangeTee & Tie’s senior vice-president of research and analytics.
The proportion of non-landed homes (excluding EC) that sold above $2,000 per square foot (psf) leapt from 38.8 per cent in February to 55.4 per cent in April this year, indicating stronger consumer confidence, she said.
Overall, most of April’s sales, excluding ECs (40.2 per cent), were in the the city fringe or the rest of central region, boosted by One-North Eden, which sold more than 85 per cent of its units during its launch weekend.
This is followed by the prime or core central region (35.2 per cent), driven by Irwell Hill Residences where more than 50 per cent of units were sold at its launch weekend. The suburbs or outside central region accounted for 24.6 per cent of total sales.
“The elevated social distancing measures may affect the pace of sales in the short term. However, technology infrastructure has been stepped up since circuit breaker last year,” said Ms Sun.
“Agents and buyers are getting more accustomed to virtual property viewings through videos and live streaming. Therefore, the sector seems to be more prepared to ensure business continuity than a year ago.”
