Foreign Property News | Posted by Hnin Ei Khin
Following the introduction of new property cooling measures on 6 July, new private home sales in Singapore declined sharply in August on both a monthly and yearly basis, reported Channel NewsAsia.
According to statistics published by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) on Monday (17 Sept), developers sold 616 new private units last month, excluding executive condominiums (ECs).
This translates to a 50.6 percent slump from the 1,246 units taken up in August 2017 and a 64.3 percent plunge from the 1,724 units sold in July this year, when buyers rushed to purchase private homes on the evening of 5 July before the curbs took effect.
The Government announced on Jul 5 that it is raising Additional Buyer's Stamp Duty (ABSD) rates and tightening loan-to-value (LTV) limits on residential property purchases.
Including ECs, property developers moved 639 units in August versus the 1,587 units that changed hands a year ago and the 1,776 condos transacted in July 2018.
Moreover, PropNex Realty revealed that excluding ECs, August saw the lowest volume of new private home sales over the past six months.
“It is understandable that August’s performance is slower as it is the first month right after the cooling measures were implemented, with buyers and investors still trying to understand and digest the effects (on) future pricing,” said its chief executive Ismail Gafoor.
Nevertheless, he is confident that sales of new private condos will rebound from 616 units in August to over 800 units by September due the launches of Mayfair Gardens and JadeScape.
In August, the top-selling newly-launched private condo was The Tre Ver, which sold 164 out of 200 units put up for sale at a median price of $1,551 psf.
Ref : Property Report
