Private home resales up 8.4% in H2 from H1

Singapore

IN what could be a ray of hope for a recovery in resale volumes of private housing transactions, the number of units transacted in this segment rose 8.4 per cent to 2,528 in the second half of last year from 2,332 in the first half, according to DTZ's analysis of caveats data from URA Realis.

Resales refer to transactions of completed properties.

In contrast, new sales by developers and subsales (secondary market deals involving uncompleted properties) continued to fall. New sales by developers slipped 36 per cent to 2,520 from H1. Over the same period, subsales eased 9.4 per cent to 260.

DTZ head of Singapore research Lee Nai Jia attributed the pick-up in resale deals to sellers willing to give bigger discounts to move their properties. "Some investors are finding that the erosion in housing rentals, arising from the ramp-up in new completions, has clipped their ability to meet monthly mortgage payments and this has increased their need to dispose of their properties. These investors have also had to take into account that in the current…