Sales of private homes launched by developers plummeted 73 percent from 1,806 units sold in June to just 481 in the month of July – the lowest recorded transaction volume in recent years, revealed data from the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA).
Including executive condominiums, 593 homes were sold reflecting a decline of 72 percent from June’s figure of 2,119 units.
For the first seven months of 2013, developers moved a total of 10,631 units, or a monthly average of 1,518 units. This figure is 25 percent lower than the 14,181 units registered during the same period last year.
Property experts explained that the slowdown was due to the cumulative impact of successive curbs taking effect in the market.
Mohamed Ismail, CEO of PropNex Realty, said: “We believe the slowdown is largely due to the knee-jerk reaction following the rollout of the Total Debt Servicing Ratio (TDSR) framework as a more rigorous checklist which will take 10 to 14 days for banks to approve property loans.”
“At the same time, tighter loan-to-value (LTV) limits on second and subsequent housing loans and longer-tenure loans were also plugged. It will take some more time for people to digest not just the loan curbs, but the cumulative impact of all the earlier rounds.”
Another factor was the lack of major project launches in July, adding on to the lowest number of new private homes sold, noted Ismail.
Despite this, the top three best-selling projects in the month were Forestville, Vue 8 Residence and Bartley Ridge.
Forestville in Woodlands sold 78 units at a median price of S$734 psf, Vue 8 Residence moved 63 units at S$1,004 psf, while Bartley Ridge found buyers for 25 units at S$1,216 psf.
Romesh Navaratnarajah, Senior Editor at PropertyGuru, wrote this story. To contact him about this or other stories email romesh@propertyguru.com.sg
Related Stories:
Developer shines spotlight on mixed developments
For sale: $25m GCB off Holland Road
Analysts: July new home sales may drop 63%