Private homes sales above S$3 million line have picked up. Emerging value and currency movements paved the way to an upsurge in high-end home sales, rising 17.7% to 659 units for the first seven months of this year. Only 560 were done in the same period last year.
The pick-up in transactions above the S$3 million category cut across both the landed and non-landed segments.
January to July Period
Sales of landed homes, 2015 - 318 transactions.
Sales of landed homes, 2014 - 280 transactions.
Non non-landed sales, 2015 - 341 transactions.
Non non-landed sales, 2014 - 280 transactions.
Contributing factors
Steeper drop in property prices in the high-end property market - the luxury non-landed private home prices have fallen 11.2% from its peak in Q1 2013.
Currency appreciation in the USD, Hong Kong dollars and the British pound against the Singapore dollar creates incentive for buyers.
The completion of new condo developments such as Leedon Residence in District 10.
Upsurge in landed property demand - 48% of private homes that changed hands at above S$3 million in the first seven months were landed homes.
Longer term view, owner occupation, upgrading of portfolio or positioning themselves for capital appreciation in landed properties in land-scarce Singapore.
Redevelopment – developers buying interest in old houses for redevelopment purposes.
Realistic pricing - developers of new landed projects have a certain timeframe to sell off their properties or pay a penalty.
Surge in number of landed properties bought by companies - totalling 30 units from Jan-July 2015.
Transactions above the S$3 million price tag in the first seven months of 2015
Singaporeans bought 442 private homes - up 20.8%.
PRs bought 104 private homes - up 13%.
Companies bought 42 homes, up from 32 previously - up 31.3%.
Purchases by foreigners fall to 64 units - down from 69 previously in the S$3-4 million range but transactions shoot up above S$4 million mark.
In contrast, the number of private homes sold at prices below S$3 million mark is almost unchanged; the figure inched up 0.3% to 8,763 units in January-July 2015 from 8,736 in the same year-ago period.
Still, the latest sales volumes in the property market are some way off the peak levels of 2013, before the roll out of the total debt servicing ratio (TDSR) in June 2013.
Source - Business Times