The prospect of the Cross Island Line may have also boosted sales at projects situated near upcoming stations.
Despite the absence of new launches and the Lunar New Year festive lull, developers sold 455 homes in February, up 4.4 percent from January and 18.5 percent higher over the same period last year, reported the Business Times.
This comes as property agents at certain projects such as The Garden Residences, Affinity at Serangoon and The Tre Ver were offered average commission rates of more than three percent.
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The rate is relatively higher compared to the usual 1.6 to two percent commissions that agents receive for new launches.
“Many developers have… raised commissions to incentivise agents to boost their selling efforts amidst growing competition for buyers,” said OrangeTee & Tie head of research and consultancy Christine Sun.
The prospect of the Cross Island Line may have also boosted sales at projects situated near upcoming stations.
“Projects in Serangoon continued to ride on the positive buying sentiment arising from the announcement of stations on the Cross Island Line,” noted Huttons Asia head of research, Lee Sze Teck. The Garden Residences and Affinity at Serangoon are some of the projects located near the upcoming Serangoon North station.
In February, developers launched 596 private homes, of which 430 were in the Outside Central Region (OCR), 141 in the Rest of Central Region (RCR) and 25 in Core Central Region (CCR).
Affinity at Serangoon emerged as the top-selling project, with 88 units sold at a median price of $1,494 psf, followed by Riverfront Residences, which moved 49 units at a median price of $1,322 psf.
Including executive condominiums (ECs), developers sold 457 units last month, a 4.6 percent improvement from January, but four percent lower than from the previous year.
PropNex Realty CEO Ismail Gafoor believes the sales figure for February “reflects an indication of the presence of inherent demand and resilience, particularly for new projects that have been previously launched”.
Moving forward, a number of new launches are expected for this year, including two major launches for this month – namely the 2,203-unit Treasure at Tampines and the 1,410-unit The Florence Residences in Hougang.
The sales performance of Treasure at Tampines is expected to be keenly watched as it is one of the most attractively priced projects.
“A solid sales number will likely boost the buying sentiment for the entire residential market, paving the way for better sales this year,” said Christine Sun, head of research and consultancy at OrangeTee & Tie.
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Romesh Navaratnarajah, Senior Editor at PropertyGuru, edited this story. To contact him about this or other stories, email romesh@propertyguru.com.sg
