Singapore's new private home sales dip in June, but demand stays buoyant: analysts

THE absence of new launches in June on the back of heightened restrictions has moderated the month's new private home sales, but analysts remain optimistic about market demand.

Based on caveats lodged, analysts estimated that developers in Singapore sold 871 new private homes in June, inching down 2.2 per cent from May's 891.

Christine Sun, senior vice-president of research and analytics at OrangeTee & Tie, noted that most developers avoided launching new projects because of the reduced occupancy capacity for galleries during Phase 2 (Heightened Alert), which lasted until the first half of the month.

Nicholas Mak, head of research and consultancy at ERA, said: "Although no residential project was launched in June, the primary market sales is about the same as the level in May, which saw the launch of One Bernam, Provence Residence and Park Nova."

Christine Li, head of research for the Asia-Pacific at Knight Frank, added: "Given that there was no new launch in June and there is depleting new home sales inventories, the sales numbers might not fully reflect the strength of the underlying demand."

Comparing year on year, the estimates are 12.7 per cent lower than the 998 new private homes sold in June 2020.

Including executive condominiums (ECs), which are public-private housing hybrids, the tally reached 961, down 21.9 per cent from sales in the previous month and 6.8 per cent from that of June 2020.

Despite the lower estimates, analysts remain bullish on the residential market.

According to Ms Li, demand will stay resilient, largely driven by positive economic recovery, Singapore's safe-haven status and domestic buyers "playing catch-up" as travel restrictions limit foreign buying demand.

"The reassurance from the MAS (Monetary Authority of Singapore) has also nudged more buyers to commit now rather than later as it might not see the cooling measures coming into effect until a few more quarters down the road," she added.

Ms Sun also said: "Sales will likely pick up in the coming months as there are a number of projects slated to be launched."

The official monthly sales data for June will be released by the Urban Redevelopment Authority on July 15.

Last month's top selling project was Hyll on Holland, likely due to the apartment complex's price cuts, according to Mr Mak.

He noted that from January to May this year, just two units were sold at a median price of S$2,458 per square foot (psf). However, after prices were lowered in June, 87 units with a median price of S$2,387 psf were snapped up.

Treasures at Tampines, which according to PropertyGuru has consistently made the top 10 best sellers list since its launch in 2019, sold another 80 units at a median price of S$1,411 psf.

New home sales in June, excluding ECs, were led by the outside central region, which accounted for some 38.7 per cent of sales, closely followed by the rest of central region with 37.8 per cent, according to data from OrangeTee & Tie.

Meanwhile, the core central region made up 23.5 per cent of the month's new home sales.

In terms of price, homes in the S$1 million to S$1.5 million range led the month by making up 36.6 per cent of transactions, excluding ECs. Some 30.8 per cent of homes were between S$1.5 million and S$2 million, while 21.6 per cent of transactions were for new homes in the S$2 million to S$3 million bracket.

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