Cooling measures dampened the buying climate in the third quarter: report | Real estate market

Bulk sales in Singapore stopped and residential sales also suffered.

The latest round of government cooling off measures has eroded sentiment in the private housing market in the third quarter of 2018, Edmund Tie & Company (ET & Co) said in a report.

This is due to the fact that block sales have stopped while residential sales have been poor due to lower demand from investors.

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In the third quarter of 2018, private residential sales volume decreased 21% quarter-over-quarter to 5,569 units.

Despite the drop in total sales volume, new sales jumped 28.6% to 2,960 units. Buyers have frantically stormed homes on the eve of the introduction of new cooling measures (July 5) to avoid additional costs. In fact, 960 units were moved to the primary market that day, accounting for 32.8% of new sales in the period.

ET & Co noted that no significant price reductions were available for new launches, but that developers had relatively healthy participation rates because they focused their marketing efforts on the unique attributes of the projects.

The Tre Verfor example, 191 out of 200 units launched in August were moved at an average selling price of about US $ 1,550.

"Designed by award-winning WOHA architects, The Tre Ver's healthy participation rate can be attributed to buyers' preference for developments built by renowned developers, with a focus on greenery and sustainability, as well as only about the proximity of park connectors ", the report says.

Sales in the secondary market, on the other hand, fell 45.1% qoq to settle at 2,609 units.

"The evolution of the secondary market was contrary to that of the primary market, as buyers and sellers in the secondary market did not have time to react before the cooling measures entered into force."

In the future, ET & Co expects demand for residential housing from first time buyers and displaced homeowners looking for replacement homes less affected by the new measures.

He is also waiting for the recent revision of the guidelines for private residential developments result in a reduction of shoe box units.

"It also affects the affordability of residential units as the number of home purchases increases."

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Romesh Navaratnarajah, editor at PropertyGuru, published this story. To contact him about this story or other stories, send an email to [email protected]