And speaking of Luxury-home deals...

 Here are highlights of an article in this week's THEEDGE SINGAPORE:

• Overall in Singapore, non-landed secondary transactions fell 51% to 1,678 units in the first five months of 2014. Relatively similar trend was seen for the high-end segment. The prime residential segment (sample size covers Districts 9, 10 and 11 as well as Sentosa) accounted for 20% of all transactions in the city-state. Secondary median prices for non-landed homes (in Districts 9, 10 and 11) softened only 6% to 9% from their peak, however, to between $1,500 and $1,900psf in 2014

 

• Secondary median prices in District 9 fell 17% in May to $1,836psf, compared with $2,223psf in December 2013. Still, no pick-up was seen in the volume of transactions

 

• In the primary market, non-landed prime residential homes fell 84% y-o-y to 145 units in the first five months of the year. The higher base in 2013 was driven mainly by d'Leedon, which accounted for 62.5% (575 units) of the high-end primary sales segment over the January to May 2013 period. Primary market transactions in the high-end segment were slow in 1H2014, as there was only one new launch and unsold units for existing projects did not move much

 

• Will transaction volume increase with a drop in prices? So far, evidence suggests that it is very much project-specific for the high-end segment. For example, at Duo Residences (a joint venture between Malaysia's Khazanah Nationsal and Singapore's Temasek Holdings), 600 units were sold at a median price of $1,999psf in November 2013. As it was priced "below market expectations", the project enjoyed a good take-up rate of 91% in the first month. This suggests that the market is getting more selective and the projects and locations that sell will vary widely

 

• There were 53,841 non-landed residential homes in the prime districts as at 1Q2014. By our estimates, 5,836 non-landed luxury units will be completed between 2014 and 2016. The combination of a higher supply of housing and a lower inflow of foreigners will increase vacancy rates and thus exert downward pressure on rentals.

 

                                      High-end residential districts

District                                                                                                    Areas Covered

District 4                                                                                                              Sentosa

District 9                                                                          Orchard, Cairnhill, River Valley

District 10                                                 Ardmore, Bukit Timah, Holland Road, Tanglin

District 11                                                                    Watten Estate, Novena, Thomson