Singapore new home sales rose to 767 units in Nov, up 18.9% over Oct on economic recovery hopes

NEW private home sales in November rose to 767, up 18.9 per cent from October's 645.

The gains in November came from strong demand at new launches - The Linq @ Beauty World and The Landmark.

A total of 1,375 units were launched for sale by developers in November against 423 in October.

New private home sales last month was 34.2 per cent lower compared to November 2019.

This brings the January-November total to 8,791 units - which exclude executive condominium (EC) units - according the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) on Tuesday based on its survey of licensed housing developers.

Including EC units, which are a public-private housing hybrid, developers moved 815 units in November, an increase of 19 per cent over 685 units in October, and a year-on-year 31.3 per cent drop from 1,186.

November's volumes were made up of 447 units in the city fringe rest of central region (RCR), 236 in the outside central region (OCR) and 84 in the core central region (CCR).

Two city-fringe projects - the 120-unit The Linq @ Beauty World and the 396-unit The Landmark - were launched last month.

Some 227 new home sales were sold at both projects last month, noted OrangeTee & Tie's head of research and consultancy, Christine Sun.

As such, RCR accounted for the bulk of 58.3 per cent of the total new home sales (excluding EC).

Other popular projects were The Garden Residences and Treasure at Tampines.

As homebuyers continue to rush to snap up new condos this month, new home sales for 2020 should not be too far from 2019's where total new home sales stood at 9,912 units.

UOL Group's last weekend launch of Clavon along Clementi Avenue 1 resulted in the best launch-day sales volume this year, The Business Times reported on Sunday.

It moved 442 units at an average price of S$1,640 per square foot (psf) during its first weekend launch, UOL said.

Ismail Gafoor, chief executive officer of PropNex, one of the three appointed marketing agents for the 99-year leasehold project, said the 442-unit sales result was achieved by the end of the first day of the public launch.

"No private housing project launch so far this year has seen more than 400 units being sold on the first day," added Mr Ismail.

The 442 units sold make up about 70 per cent of the total 640 units in the project, which is being developed by a 80:20 joint venture between UOL and its subsidiary United Industrial Corporation. Clavon will have two 37-storey towers.

Market watchers note that the pricing for Clavon is similar to that of Parc Clematis, whose developer has sold 524 units from Jan 1 to Dec 6 this year at a median price of S$1,635 psf, according to data from URA Realis.

OrangeTee & Tie's Ms Sun said buyers appear to be looking past the pandemic to hopes of an economic recovery.

Singapore will be entering Phase Three reopening on Dec 28, 2020 where more businesses and social activities are expected to resume.

"Vaccine optimism has also bolstered investor confidence," said Ms Sun.

Several vaccines with promising results raised hopes that the global health crisis may soon be under control. Mass vaccination programmes have been gearing up in many countries, including Singapore which has announced plans to roll out inoculation for healthcare workers, frontliners and vulnerable patients soon.