The private property resale market continued to be in the doldrums even as new private home sales increased in the second quarter of 2019, revealed a Huttons report.
About 2,400 resale transactions were registered in Q2 2019, down 50 percent over the same period last year.
According to Today Online, the real estate firm attributed the poor sales performance partly to the significant gap in expectations between buyers and sellers.
“The plethora of new launches in (the second quarter) also drew away demand from the resale market. Nevertheless, prices in the resale market held steady,” said Huttons.
With 17 new launches in Q2 2019, developer sales climbed six percent year-on-year to around 2,350 units.
“The pickup in demand shows the underlying strength of the market and a return of confidence in property as a good store of value against uncertainty and inflation in the mid to long term.”
Huttons noted that the number of new units has been on the uptrend since February.
The average monthly sales in Q2 2019 stood at around 783 units, up from Q1 2019’s 613 units.
Treasure at Tampines was the best-selling new project, followed by Amber Park. Completing the top five best-selling new projects are Parc Botannia, The Florence Residences and The Tre Ver.
Looking ahead, Huttons expects private property sales for this year will to outpace that of last year, given that transaction volume for 1H 2019 is already higher compared to the same period last year.
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Fiona Ho, Digital Content Manager at PropertyGuru, edited this story. To contact her about this or other stories, email fiona@propertyguru.com.sg