Sales of new private homes climbed 28 percent in March 2015 from last year, according to data from the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA).
Excluding executive condominiums, a total of 613 units were sold last month by developers, up from the 480 units in March 2014.
Month-on-month, there was a 57 percent increase in sales from February’s tally of 390 units.
Looking at April, CBRE expects recent major launches of North Park Residences and Botanique at Bartley to boost sales volume which has been dampened by a slew of property cooling measures in recent years.
Only four private condominiums were launched in the whole of Q1 2015: Marine Blue, Symphony Suites, Sims Urban Oasis and Kingsford Waterbay. The lack of new projects contributed to a 27.3 percent drop in sales to around 1,000 units during the period, noted CBRE.
According to URA, prices as well as the number of units sold during the month are based on the Option to Purchase (OTP) issued by developers to buyers and reported to URA. Not all OTPs result in confirmed sales.
An OTP is a right or option given by the vendor to an intending purchaser to buy the property at a specified price within a specified period of time – the validity period of the option. The intending purchaser must pay a booking fee of between 5.0 – 10 percent of the agreed price for this right or option. The purchaser has to exercise the OTP within its validity period if he decides to buy the property.
Romesh Navaratnarajah, Singapore Editor at PropertyGuru, wrote this story. To contact him about this or other stories email romesh@propertyguru.com.sg
