English
Singapore new private home sales fall 29.7% in May
DEVELOPERS in Singapore sold 891 new private homes in May, down 29.7 per cent from April’s 1,268, URA data showed on Tuesday.
Sales were likely dampened by the additional restrictions put in place to curb rising Covid-19 cases in the community.
Including executive condominiums (ECs), which are a public-private housing hybrid, sales reached 1,230 units, easing 8.8 per cent from 1,348 in April.
Tuesday’s data was higher than consultants’ flash estimates published by The Business Times on June 12.
This is the second consecutive month-on-month fall after April inched down 2.2 per cent.
That said, May’s tally is an 83 per cent gain from the 487 homes sold in the corresponding month in 2020, as last year’s numbers were significantly affected by “circuit-breaker” restrictions. However this year’s sales are still 6.4 per cent shy of that in May 2019.
Including ECs, the month’s figures more than doubled from the 510 homes sold in May 2020.
Last month’s new launches were also capped by the government’s heightened measures, which kicked in on May 16.
Given that the occupancy capacity of galleries were reduced to one person per 16 square metres, and social gatherings were restricted to groups of two including the property agent, some developers decided to postpone their launches until after the restrictions were lifted.
The few launches which did take place included MCC Group’s 413-unit EC Provence Residence at Canberra Crescent, MCC Group and HY Realty’s One Bernam at Tanjong Pagar and Shun Tak’s super luxury freehold development Park Nova at Tomlinson Road. According to PropNex, 12 units at Park Nova were transacted at a median price of S$5,006 per square foot.
Excluding ECs, sales of homes found in the outside of central region led the month, accounting for 45 per cent of sales.
The rest of central region attributed some 33.6 per cent, while the core central region contributed roughly 21.4 per cent of new home sales in May.
Source: https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/singapore-new-private-home-sales-fall-297-in-may