Developer sales down almost 23% from year ago

The best-selling project in February was The Panorama in Ang Mo Kio.

New private home sales in Singapore fell by 22.8 percent to 301 units in February 2016, from 390 units in the same period last year, according to data released by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) on Tuesday, 15 March.

On a monthly basis, the sales volume fell by 6.8 percent from the 323 units sold in January 2016, even though new launches surged 31.4 percent to 209 units from 159 units previously.

According to JLL, the slower developer sales were expected due to the Lunar New Year lull and the continuation of the volatility in the stock market from the previous month.

By location, sales in the Core Central Region (CCR) fell to 25 units in February, just shy of the 26 units sold in the previous month, and the 30 units sold a year ago.

In the Rest of Central Region (RCR), transaction levels edged up to 82 units from 81 units in January 2016. But compared to the 185 units sold a year ago, this area witnessed the largest year-on-year decline of 56 percent.

Meanwhile, developers sold 194 units in the Outside Central Region (OCR). While this translates to a 10 percent drop from the 216 units moved in the month before, it is an 11 percent improvement from the 175 units sold in February 2015.

According to PropNex Realty, properties in the OCR accounted for 64 percent of total sales by developers, while those in the CCR and RCR made up nine percent and 27 percent respectively.

The best-selling private residential projects last month were The Panorama, where 18 units were sold at a median price of $1,211 psf, followed by Kingsford Waterbay and Principal Garden, which moved 18 and 16 units at median prices of $1,127 psf and $1,612 psf, respectively.

Looking ahead, new private home sales could fall by around 10 to 15 percent year-on-year to between 1,000 and 1,200 units in Q1 2016, the lowest level seen for the past three years, said Mohamed Ismail, CEO of PropNex.

Nevertheless, transaction volume could rebound in March due to the fairly good performance of two newly launched developments, Cairnhill Nine and The Wisteria.

For the whole of 2016, private home sales are expected to remain weak at around 8,000 units, as long as the property cooling measures remain.

Romesh Navaratnarajah, Senior Editor at PropertyGuru, wrote this story. To contact him about this or other stories email romesh@propertyguru.com.sg

More from PropertyGuru:
Economists cut down forecast for Singapore economy to 1.9%
Economists cut down forecast for Singapore economy to 1.9%
REDAS names new chief
High-ranking civil servant joins CoAssets