Yahoo Finance Singapore home sales off to the slowest start since 2009
By Low De Wei
(Bloomberg) — Singapore home sales posted the weakest January sales since 2009, adding to signs that the property boom is fading.
Developers sold 281 new private homes last month, according to figures released Thursday by the Urban Redevelopment Authority. While that was up from 135 in December, it was the slowest start since the global financial crisis deterred buyers 15 years ago.
The muted rebound from December is likely to fuel growing concern among developers about flagging demand. While Singapore has avoided downturns that afflicted other cities such as Hong Kong, sales have been on a downward trend since the government introduced measures to cool the market and rising interest rates began to bite.
“Buyers have turned more selective amid a myriad of new launch options,” wrote Tricia Song, CBRE Group Inc.’s head of research for Singapore and Southeast Asia in a note. She added that sales in February are likely to remain tepid as developers hold back on kicking off projects during the Lunar New Year period.
Singapore saw 6,421 new private residential units sold last year, the fewest since 2008, final revised URA figures show. Annual transaction volumes, existing homes included, reached the lowest level in seven years.
Developers are becoming cautious. A prime land parcel in the city center sold by the government attracted just one bid in January. The offer was recently rejected by authorities who said it was “too low.”
© 2024 Bloomberg L.P.
