Singapore Property News This Week #204

Residential

March condo resale volume increases by 31% month-on-month

According to flash figures by SRX, the resale volume of non-landed private residential properties in March increased by 31 percent from February. About 440 condominium units changed hands in March, up from the 336 sold in the previous month. In March 2014, only 371 units changed hands. This means that there was an 18.6 percent jump year-on-year in terms of the resale volume. However, resale prices for these condos have fallen by 0.2 percent month-on-month in March. Particularly, resale prices in the city centre and the suburban regions have fallen by 0.3 percent and 0.4 percent respectively. Yet, resale prices in the city fringe have increased by 0.4 percent. According to Wong Xian Yang from OrangeTee, resale prices in the city fringes have increased as transaction volumes are low. Meanwhile, in March this year, the resale prices have fallen by 3.9 percent year-on-year from the previous year. Eugene Lim from ERA Realty believes that private home resale prices will continue to fall by 5 to 8 percent for the whole of 2015. He predicts that a total of 5,000 to 6,000 resale units will be transacted this year.

(Source: Business Times)

Market experts optimistic about private home sales in April

Market experts believe that the number of private homes sold in April will increase compared to previous months. In March, a total of 613 private homes were sold by developers. This was 57 percent more than the 390 units sold by developers in February. Market experts believe that as sales are picking up at the North Park Residences in Yishun and Botanique at Bartley, developers’ sale in April should also be good. Ong Teck Hui from JLL said that the pick-up in sales may be sustained if new launches are attractively priced. Ong Choon Fah from DTZ added that in the secondary market, sales is also picking up. This is because the leasing market has been weak and with more new home completions, owners are increasingly motivated to sell instead of renting their properties. According to data by URA, developers sold 79 executive condo units in March, which is an increase from the 65 units sold in February. Ismail Gafoor from PropNex predicts that developers will sell about 9,000 private homes in 2015.

(Source: Business Times)

March condo rents fall by 0.4% month-on-month

In March, the rentals of private condominiums and apartments fell by 0.4 percent month-on-month from February. Particularly, rentals in the city centre and the city fringe fell by 0.5 percent and 0.9 percent respectively while rentals in the suburbs increased by 0.8 percent, according to the SRX Property Price Index for non-landed private rentals. While rental volumes have increased, rents in March were 6.3 percent lower than in March 2014. Data from SRX showed that in March, 3,948 non-landed private homes were rented. This is about 37 percent more than the 2,880 units that were rented out in February this year. Eugene Lim added that landlords may feel the urgency to rent out their properties as they are no longer allowed to apply for vacancy refunds on their property taxes. As such, landlords may be more willing to lease at a lower rental price. On the other hand, HDB rental volumes have also increased. About 1,838 HDB flats were leased in March this year, up from the 1,420 units rented in February.

(Source: Business Times)

Commercial

60 out of 100 units at GSH Plaza sold

At least 60 out of the 100 units at GSH Plaza have been sold in the first phase of its sale. The average selling price for the strata office units is between $2,850 and $3,500 psf, according to the Business Times. Formerly known as Equity Plaza, the GSH Plaza has a total of 259 strata office units in its 28 storeys. It has two floors of retail space, which consists of 8 shops and 13 food and beverage outlets. Other recent launches that have taken off include North Park Residences at Yishun and Botanique at Bartley. 70 percent of the condominium project at Yishun has been sold. On the other hand, Botanique at Bartley has sold more than 50 units in its second weekend of sales. According to market experts, the sales numbers at all three launches are promising.

(Source: Business Times)