Singapore’s property auction market saw a total of S$3.9 million in sales closed in Q4 2013, down 15.1 percent in quarterly sales value from the previous quarter’s S$4.6 million, revealed a Jones Lang LaSalle report.
Nonetheless, the number of properties sold during auction rose marginally to four from three in Q3.
The report also noted that Q4 sales value declined 88.1 percent from the five-year quarterly average sales of S$32.7 million, or down 91.5 percent from the 10-year average quarterly sales of S$46.0 million.
On a yearly basis, the number of successful auctions fell 19.2 percent from 26 in 2012 to 21 in 2013. However, the corresponding total sales value soared 69.5 percent to S$99.6 million from S$58.7 million in 2012.
The increase “is primarily due to a higher number of large deals closed in 2013”, said the report.
Meanwhile, the number of residential properties listed in Q4 was higher than the combined number of commercial and industrial properties. However, properties sold during auction in the recent two quarters all came from the industrial segment.
Moving forward, “mild and gradual recovery is expected in the coming quarter”, with the majority of players believing that market fundamentals remain strong, said Mok Sze Sze, Head of Auction and Sales at Jones Lang LaSalle.
“Increase in sales volume compared to 2013 is predicted as buyers and sellers seek ways to absorb the additional costs incurred due to the cooling measures.”
“In the near term, the auction market is likely to gain back the sales momentum and recover at a faster pace as investment sentiment improves. Generally speaking, we expect higher success rate and better market performance in 2014.”
Romesh Navaratnarajah, Senior Editor at PropertyGuru, wrote this story. To contact him about this or other stories email romesh@propertyguru.com.sg
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