Despite the 21.1 percent month-on-month drop in the number of units sold last month, developers still managed to sell 6,388 private homes during the first half of 2017, up 73.8 percent over the same period last year, reported Business Times citing Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) preliminary data.
On a quarterly basis, private home sales increased 15.7 percent quarter-on-quarter and 51.9 percent year-on-year to 3,426 units in Q2.
JLL described the Q2 2017 figure as the strongest since Q2 2013, before the government introduced the total debt servicing ratio (TDSR) framework.
The 6,388 units transacted in 1H 2017, on the other hand, marked a significant recovery from 2H 2014’s 2,907 units sold, albeit still lower than the 9,950 units moved in 1H 2013 before the TDSR kicked in.
“This analysis points towards a market that has regained confidence and recovered substantially in transaction volume,” said Ong Teck Hui, JLL’s national director.
On the executive condominium (EC) market front, developers moved 992 units in Q2, down from the 1,072 units sold during the previous quarter and the 1,105 units transacted over the same period last year.
The 2,064 units sold in 1H 2017 is a little over half the 3,999 units transacted in the whole of last year.
With this, Mohamed Ismail, chief executive of PropNex Realty, expects developers to sell around 3,500 units by year-end, while Eugene Lim, ERA Realty Network’s key executive officer, forecast between 3,000 and 4,000.
Excluding ECs, Lim expects developers to sell between 10,000 and 12,000 private homes, while Ismail predicts over 11,500 units, on the back of the current positive market sentiment. Predicting the figure to hit 12,500, Ong expects URA’s benchmark private home price index to bottom by year-end or early-2018.
This article was edited by Denise Djong.