Managing aspirations and expectations

TWO new launches that came to market in the last two weeks gave a peek into market psyche in the higher additional buyer’s stamp duty (ABSD) environment. 

The first launch that booked sales post-new ABSD regime – Blossoms by the Park – moved 202 units at launch, or 74 per cent of the 275-unit project, at an average of S$2,423 per square foot (psf). 

The project that followed – the freehold The Continuum condo in the popular East region of the island – sold 216 units (26 per cent of 815 units) at an average of S$2,732 psf. Pricing was some 10 per cent higher than median transacted psf price of new freehold apartments in the same district. It was also roughly 10 per cent higher than the average psf price of units sold at the April launch of Tembusu Grand, a new 99-year leasehold project nearby.