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Resilient Private Home Sales In August 2021 Despite Depleting Stock And Hungry Ghost Month

Latest Property Real Estate News - Published on 15/09/2021

SINGAPORE, 15 September 2021 – Overall private new home sales in August 2021 eased up compared to the previous month. While sales activity was quieter, August’s sales volume of more than 1,200 units was considered relatively healthy. It demonstrated the market’s resiliency in spite of the lack of new launches, the Hungry Ghost month as well as the Phase 2 Heightened Alert Restrictions from 22 July to 18 August. Based on caveats lodged, developers sold 1,215 new private homes (excluding Executive Condos) in August 2021 – 23.6% lower than the 1,591 units transacted in July. The month of July was considered to be an exceptional month, driven by the impressive sales in the OCR which was led by the launch of Pasir Ris 8. When compared to last year in August 2020 where 1,258 units were transacted – home sales in August was down by 3.4%.

In terms of sales volume, the month of August was on par with other months, namely March and April, where sales volumes were slightly more than 1,200 units. Examining the take-up ratio (see Table 1), computed by taking the units (excl. EC) sold in the month against units launched, the take-up ratio was 1.45 for August – faring better than most of the months this year, except for in February and May where there were no new launches, resulting in a higher take-up ratio, due to the lower launch volumes in those months

New homes sales in the Outside Central Region (OCR) recorded almost two thirds of total sales in August with 720 units. A bulk of the sales in the OCR were from The Watergardens @ Canberra which launched in the later part of August. The project managed to move almost 60% of its units, selling an impressive 267 units out of its total inventory of 448 units, at a median price of $1,469 psf. The OCR sales in August was also boosted by other previously launched OCR projects such as The Florence Residences (66 units) and Midwood (62 units) which continued to move units steadily in the month.

In the Rest of Central Region (RCR), 343 new homes were transacted in August 2021. The RCR sold 21.7% less units in August compared to the previous month. Its sales were boosted by Normanton Park which sold 131 units at a median price of $1,828 psf. While in the Core Central Region (CCR), 152 new homes were sold, 7.8% more units in August compared to July. Leedon Green was the best-selling CCR project in August, with 32 units transacted, at a median price of $2,718 psf.

In the EC segment, developers sold 107 new units in August 2021 despite a lack of new EC launches – down by 31% from the 155 new ECs transacted in June. In August 2021, Ola was the best-selling EC project, moving 57 units at a median price of $1,152psf. The EC market has been relatively quiet since the last EC launch, Provence Residences in May. EC sales are expected to pick up following the launch of Parc Greenwich in September.

In terms of units launched, developers placed 836 new private homes (ex. ECs) on the market in August – 24.3% less than the 1,104 units (ex. ECs) launched in the previous month. All of the units placed on the market in August were mostly from previously launched projects and two new project launches, namely The Watergardens at Canberra with 300 units and Klimt Cairnhill with 138 units.

Mr Ismail Gafoor, CEO of PropNex Realty:
“For the month of August, about 22% of the month’s new home sales (excl. ECs) comprised of units at the Watergardens @ Canberra, while the rest (78%) were units from previously launched projects. Owing to the lack of new launches, buyers continued to pick up new homes from past projects due to their attractive pricing in comparison to recent launches which have higher benchmark prices. Buyers have also felt more compelled to enter the market now due to news of anticipated rising prices for future project launches – fuelled by high land bid prices at recent land tenders and as well as increasing construction costs.

It was observed that 7 out of the top 10 best-selling projects in August were OCR projects (see table 2), indicative of some residual pent-up demand for suburban homes from HDB upgraders, which will continue to sustain the market till the end of the year. Sales in the RCR segment should pick up slightly in the coming months, supported by two upcoming RCR launches – Bartley Vue and Canninghill Piers – the former was launched on the first weekend of September while the latter is scheduled to be launched in the third quarter of this year. For the CCR segment, it is expected to gain some momentum towards the end of the year as border restrictions slowly ease up together with some new project launches in the pipeline including Perfect Ten and Jervois Mansion.

In September, the new home sale market is projected to achieve a sales volume of about 800 to 900 units – sales are expected to be driven mainly by past launched projects due to the lack of major new launches during the month. For the whole of 2021, we project that new private home sales (ex. ECs) could exceed 12,000 units, barring any unforeseen events and new cooling measures.”