Singapore property market: developers standing firm for now in supply glut

THE effects of last July's property cooling measures, as well as an abundance of choices of new private residential launches for home buyers, have started to become apparent.

Sales have been generally subdued for new launches in the past two weekends. For instance, at The Florence Residences in Hougang, where sales began on March 2, close to 60 units were reported to have been sold in the first weekend out of the 200 units released in the 1,410-unit condo. The average selling price was nearly S$1,400 per square foot. In contrast, at Affinity at Serangoon, in a slightly better location, 112 units were sold during its first weekend of sales in June last year - despite the project being launched at a much higher average price of S$1,575 psf. A nearby rival project, The Garden Residences - with an even higher average price of S$1,660 psf and launched at the same time in June 2018 - also found buyers for more than 60 units in its first weekend of sales. All three projects are on 99-year leasehold sites.

This is a time of plenty in terms of supply of property launches.