August has been a quiet month for the property auction market in Singapore, as only a handful of investors put up their property for sale during the Hungry Ghost Festival.
According to data from Colliers International, of the 34 properties launched for auction this month, a terrace house at Da Silva Lane in Serangoon was the only one sold, for around S$1.66 million.
This is similar to the Hungry Ghost Festival in 1998, when 29 properties were put up for auction and only two were sold for S$1.65 million each. Last year, 51 properties were launched for auction during the period and three of them were snapped up for S$5.23 million.
“The Hungry Ghost Festival this year sees the second lowest number of properties put up for sale in 14 years; the lowest was in 1998,” said Grace Ng, Deputy Managing Director at Colliers International.
This was mainly attributed to the current market conditions and buyers sentiment, instead of the superstition linked with the lunar seventh month, she said.
She added that “some owners have temporarily halted their plans of putting their residential properties for sale in the market now, as buyers are waiting on the sidelines in the hope of securing a better bargain.”
“Instead, many owners prefer to now rent out their properties to generate a better yield, as compared to depositing the money in the bank which earns them a paltry interest of less than one percent per annum. Additionally, properties are usually viewed as a good hedge against inflation.”
To date, the total sale value achieved at auctions hit S$80.4 million, only a third of the S$223.9 million achieved in 2010. Colliers said that the total sales value for the whole year will likely exceed S$110 million.
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