Thursday, March 22, 2012

Secondary market continued to soften in 1Q2012

Non-landed home prices in the secondary property market in Singapore continued to soften in the first quarter of 2012, with those in the prime districts 9, 10 and 11 faring worst.

According to a report by DTZ Research, resale prices of luxury condominiums and freehold condominiums in the prime districts fell by 0.8% and 0.7% respectively.

Resale prices of leasehold condominiums in the suburban areas registered a slight quarter-on-quarter increase of 0.3%, a moderation from the 1.0% growth in Q4 2011.

Transaction of non-landed homes also slowed to about 470 units per month over January and February. This was also lower than the monthly average of about 1,400 units in 2011.

DTZ Research attributed the lower prices and transactions to property cooling measures such as the Additional Buyer's Stamp Duty measures implemented in December last year.

Competition from uncompleted projects is another factor that has impacted resale property sales, the DTZ report added.

The report highlighted that a high monthly average of 2,200 new units, excluding executive condominiums, were launched in January and February, compared to a monthly average of 1,510 units launched in 2011.

Resale prices of landed homes, however, rebounded in Q1 2012 after moderating growth for two consecutive quarters.

Freehold landed homes in suburban areas and prime districts 9, 10 and 11 respectively registered stronger price increases of 1.6% and 1% on-quarter, compared to 0.7% and 0.8% over the last quarter of 2011.

DTZ said that primary sales, excluding executive condominiums, averaged 2,143 units per month in the first two months of 2012, higher than the 2011 monthly average of 1,364 units.

Chua Chor Hoon, Head of Asia Pacific Research at DTZ said: "Projects that were launched previously are being re-launched to ride on the current buying momentum. If purchase demand continues to remain strong at above 1,500 units a month, we do not preclude the possibility of further government cooling measures."
Source: Channel News Asia
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