Singapore resale condo market robust despite pandemic, with prices up 1.4% in 2020

Singapore

WITH the breathless pursuit of property in Singapore despite the Covid-19 pandemic, 2020 ended on a robust showing in the condominium resale market.

Resale transactions for non-landed private homes rose 18.1 per cent in 2020 from a year ago, flash figures from SRX Property showed on Tuesday. A total of 10,712 properties changed hands.

For the whole of 2020, resale prices rose by 1.4 per cent, with ERA Realty's head of research and consultancy Nicholas Mak noting that the price index ended 2020 on the highest level since statistics from the real-estate portal were made publicly available.

The gain was a touch weaker than the 1.8 per cent increase recorded in 2019.

PropNex's head of research and content Wong Siew Ying said the renewed interest in the resale condo market in the second half of 2020 likely helped to support the new sale market, as some sellers may have recycled capital into acquiring properties in new launches.

The revival in the private condo resale market continues, she said. In December, resale prices rose for the fifth straight month.

Volumes, however, were down 5.1 per cent to around 1,236 resold units, from 1,302 units resold in November 2020.

Year on year, volumes were 79.4 per cent higher and 96.4 per cent higher than the five-year average volumes for the month of December.

Resales in the rest of central region (RCR), or city fringes, and outside of central region (OCR) both rose month-on-month by 0.3 per cent and 0.5 per cent respectively.

Meanwhile, resale prices in the core central region (CCR) dropped by 0.4 per cent.

PropNex's Ms Wong said the CCR - a proxy for luxury homes - has faced more pricing pressure relative to the other two segments as travel bans have crimped demand for high-end homes from foreign buyers who are unable to view and transact properties in Singapore.

"Some prospective buyers may also be more cautious about committing to a big-ticket home purchase amid the economic downturn, preferring to adopt a wait-and-see approach," she added.

Year on year, resales in the RCR and OCR were up 0.5 per cent and 3 per cent respectively, while the CCR saw a drop of 1.4 per cent.

When it comes to resale volume, 60.9 per cent of transactions in December 2020 came from the OCR, 22.9 per cent from the RCR, and 16.3 per cent from the CCR.

In the same month, a unit at Skyline @ Orchard Boulevard fetched the highest transacted price at S$12.2 million. In the RCR, a unit at Pebble Bay fetched the highest transacted price for a resale at S$4.3 million, while a unit at A Treasure Trove resold for S$3.2 million fetched the highest transacted price in the OCR.

SRX said the overall transaction over X-value (TOX) for December 2020 was S$15,000 - up S$4,000 from November 2020.

District 4 (Sentosa and Harbourfront) posted the highest median TOX at positive S$50,000. Meanwhile, District 1 (Boat Quay, Raffles Place, Marina) posted the lowest median TOX at negative S$19,000.

TOX measures how much a buyer is overpaying (positive value) or underpaying (negative value) for a property based on SRX's computer-generated market value. The data includes only districts with more than 10 resale transactions.

Christine Sun, OrangeTee & Tie director and senior vice-president of research and analytics, said that with low mortgage rates, a tight supply of new homes entering the market and a possible economic recovery, the private resale market may continue to improve this year.

"We anticipate that sales of resale homes may continue to increase moderately this year, and the number of transactions could reach 11,000 units," she noted. "Resale prices may increase further by one to 4 per cent for the whole of 2021."