New home sales have been on the rebound in March, soaring 131.6 percent month-on-month to 1,054 units, according to the Urban Redevelopment Authority’s (URA) developers’ sales survey. Home sales in the first quarter of 2019 are also 23.1 percent higher compared to Q1 2018.
Including executive condominiums (ECs), developers sold 1,062 units, up 132.4 percent from the previous month. On a yearly basis, new home sales, excluding ECs, jumped 47.2 percent.
For the first quarter of 2019, new home sales remained resilient with 1,946 units sold. The figure is 23.1 percent higher than the 1,581 units transacted in Q1 2018, although no cooling measures were implemented a year ago.
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Of the 1,812 private homes launched in March, 170 were in the Core Central Region (CCR), 576 in the Rest of Central Region (RCR), and 1,066 in the Outside Central Region (OCR).
A few new projects were launched last month, including Treasure at Tampines which moved 289 units, The Florence Residences (77 units), Boulevard 88 (26 units), One Meyer (10 units) and The Essence (six units).
OrangeTee & Tie noted that sentiment was positive for the ultra luxury segment as it registered a significant pick-up in the number of units sold in March.
Based on URA data, 25 new private homes were sold above the $5 million threshold in March. This was the highest number recorded for a single month since December 2013.
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“Of the 25 units, 20 were from Boulevard 88 and five were from Marina One Residences. For these 25 units, 10 were bought by Singaporeans while 15 were bought by foreigners,” said OrangeTee & Tie.
Further, a 528 sq m unit on the 28th floor at Boulevard 88 emerged as the highest-priced unit sold last month at $28 million or $4,927 per sq ft (psf). It is also “the highest psf price transacted for a new sales unit since June 2013” when a unit at Reignwood Hamilton Scotts was sold at $5,001 psf.
Looking ahead, CBRE research head for Southeast Asia Desmond Sim expects developers “to slow down launches to give the market a breather to allow inventory to clear from existing launches”.
Buyers, on the other hand, are expected “to take a “wait-and-see” stance, in anticipation of prices declining in the coming quarters.
Fiona Ho, Digital Content Manager at PropertyGuru, edited this story. To contact her about this or other stories, email fiona@propertyguru.com.sg
