21 August 2021
Singapore’s residential market rebounded the most in six months signaling the sector’s resilience as buyers anticipate pandemic restrictions easing.
URA’s latest statistics revealed that purchases of new private units rose 82% to 1,589 in July, from 872 in June. This is the highest increase since January, when 1,633 homes were sold, and comes after sales dropped for three consecutive months through June due to tightened virus curbs.
The jump is likely due to buyers rushing to purchase homes out of fear of being priced out and in anticipation of possible price hikes in the future especially as Singapore’s economy is poised for further recovery amid the government’s plans to reopen the country, noted one analyst. The recent aggressive land bids by developers may also have prompted purchasers to expect future launch prices to rise further.
By region, the largest share of the sales volume last month came from the suburbs or Outside Central Region (OCR), where 1,012 units or nearly two-thirds of the total volume were sold, according to the URA data.
Seven of the 10 best-selling projects in July were in the OCR. In particular, Pasir Ris 8 which launched on July 24 and 25 saw overwhelming demand and sold more than 85 per cent of its units, given that it was the first OCR launch of the year. On the back of PR8's successful launch, there was spillover demand to other integrated projects and projects even outside the vicinity. It was observed that some buyers who did not proceed with their PR8 purchase went on to buy Normanton Park and Sengkang Grand Residences.
Investment activity in Singapore's real estate market almost doubled in the first half of 2021 to US$4.7 billion (S$6.4 billion) worth of acquisitions, up 97 per cent from a year ago. With the easing of borders and Singapore being positioned as the top overseas real estate investment destination in the first half of 2021 according to the latest second-quarter Asia-Pacific Capital Trends report released by Real Capital Analytics (RCA) on 11 Aug, we can anticipate a more robust demand by foreign investors.
PAULINE CHUA Senior Marketing Director ERA Realty Network Pte Ltd Whatsapp: wa.me/6586927272
www.paulinechua.com #PaulineChuaRealEstate #SingaporeProperty #SingaporeRealEstate #propertymarket #propertynews