Singapore’s September New-Home Sales Data Is Surprisingly Strong

Singapore’s Urban Redevelopment Authority has just released the official September new-home sales data. As in August, the numbers are surprisingly strong, according to interpretative comments released by Singapore agents OrangeTee & Tie and their global parters, Juwai IQI.

Juwai IQI Executive Chairman Georg Chmiel said, "Foreign buyer transactions were down in September as offshore buyers were replaced by locals. Local buyers' market share hit an 11-year high.

"Foreigners accounted for 12.5% of all transactions, including both foreign permanent residents ("PR") and non-PR foreigners. Singaporeans made 87.4 percent of the 1,224 new non-landed home sales in September.

"In September, there were a total 1,224 new non-landed home sales in September. Singaporeans took 1,070 units, permanent residents bought 118, and non-permanent residents bought 35."

Singapore market expert Christine Sun, Head of Research & Consultancy at OrangeTee & Tie explained the month's data.

"Demand for new private homes remained robust as sales volume maintained above 1,000 units for a third consecutive month in September," she wrote in her newly issued market report. "According to the developers’ sales survey by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA), new home sales excluding Executive Condominiums (EC) rose higher by 5.6 per cent from 1,258 units in August to 1,329 units in September. This is the highest monthly sales since July 2018 when 1,724 units were transacted then.

"Including EC, sales increased 5.8 per cent to 1,385 units from the 1,309 units sold in the prevailing month. On a year-on-year basis, the number of private home sales (excluding EC) was 4.6 per cent higher than the 1,270 units sold in September 2019.

"Private homes excluding EC in the Rest of Central Region (RCR) and Outside of Central Region (OCR) formed the bulk of purchases last month. 64.6 per cent of the private homes (excluding EC) were in the RCR while 29.0 per cent were in the OCR and 6.3 per cent were in the CCR. The best-selling projects in September were Penrose, Treasure at Tampines, Jadescape, The Garden Residences, The Woodleigh Residences, The Florence Residences, Verdale, and Daintree Residence."

Sun pointed to diminishing stock in mega-launches.

She wrote, "Sales at many mega projects excluding EC developments remained healthy despite the pandemic and cooling measures. Many mega projects (more than 500 units) that were launched before the pandemic from January 2018 to December 2019 sold more than 50 per cent of their entire project to-date. Of the 21 mega projects, more than 15,000 private homes were sold collectively from January 2018 to September 2020.

"The cumulative unsold units from these 21 projects seemed to be fast diminishing, dipping from 9,460 units in December 2019 to 5,460 units in September 2020. Given the steady pace of sales, most mega-projects could be fully sold by next year.

"Singapore properties are still hot amid the pandemic. The robust sales inked over the past few months could be attributed to strong underlying demand from local buyers. Many Singaporeans and especially high net worth individuals have been looking out for value-assets to grow their wealth and are planning to ride on the wave of market recovery. They may feel that it is a good time to enter the market now since prices will likely rise after the pandemic and Singapore's economy is positioned for a gradual recovery with many sectors being reopened in recent months. The housing stock in many mega-launches is diminishing which may have stoked the urgency in some buyers to ink a unit now.

"Looking forward, we may see stronger real estate activities during the year-end than in previous years, which may mitigate the adverse impact of the new regulations imposed on the reissuing of options to purchase (OTPs). To encourage financial prudence among buyers, property developers are now restricted from re-issuing OTP to the same buyer of the same unit within 12 months after the expiry of the earlier OTP.

"As most Singaporeans will not be travelling overseas this year due to the coronavirus and global travel restrictions, some spend their holidays visiting show flats or attending property seminars. We estimate that around 2000 to 2,500 new homes could be sold in Q4, bringing the total new sales to be around 8,500 to 9,500 units for the whole of 2020."

View the research in English at: http://www.orangetee.com/Home/Research.aspx

View the research in Chinese at:
https://www.juwai.com/news/reports/

Juwai IQI
Times Media Centre, 133 Wan Chai Road,
Wan Chai, Hong Kong SAR
Dave Platter, Global Director PR and Comms, +61432814888, dave@juwai.com

About OrangeTee & Tie Pte Ltd: OrangeTee has since its founding in 2000 been one of the most reputable, dynamic and fast-growing real estate companies in Singapore over the past two decades. Today, OrangeTee & Tie has more than 4,300 property agents, making it the third-largest real estate agency in Singapore. OrangeTee & Tie transacted more than 35,000 units of properties and sold more than US$5.5 billion of property in 2019. It is the first company in Singapore to introduce an agents’ review platform for customers to make informed decisions.

About Juwai IQI: Juwai IQI operates the Asian real estate super-brands dedicated to empowering residents of Asia to become residents of the world: IQI and Juwai. IQI is the No. 1 real estate network in Southeast Asia and the Middle East and sold US$1 billion of property in 2019. IQI has more than 15,000 salespeople and associates across 15 countries. Juwai operates Juwai.com, the No. 1 Chinese marketplace for overseas property, as well as Juwai.asia, the first global portal for Asian buyers outside of mainland China. Juwai advertises US$4 trillion of property from 91 countries every year.

This release was published on openPR.