SINGAPORE, 15 August 2022 – Mr Lam Chern Woon (蓝振文), Head of Research and Consulting at EDMUND TIE comments on URA’s announcement on July new private home sales.
Developers moved 834 private residential units (excluding ECs) in July 2022, 70.9% higher than the 488 units sold in the previous month. Newly launched units amounted to 402 units in July 2022, 1.3% higher than June’s 397 units. This translates to a buoyant take-up rate of 207% in July compared to 123% in June. There was only one new project launched in July – AMO Residence in the OCR, which launched 372 units.
The bulk of the sales, or 43.9% of total sales, was driven by strong sales performance in AMO Residence (366 units sold out of 372 units launched) in the OCR.
In aggregate, the OCR accounted for 58.2% of sales, while the CCR accounted for 22.2%. Contrary to OCR, both CCR and RCR registered slight declines in sales in July, albeit still respectable, given that the CCR only saw 30 new units launched (25 units from Leedon Green and 5 units from Haus on Handy) and there were no new units launched in the RCR.
In the OCR, almost three-quarter of units sold was attributed to AMO Residence (366 units), while other top-selling projects like Parc Clematis (17 units), The Florence Residences (17 units) and KI Residences at Brookvale (17 units) contributed 10.5% of the segment’s sales. In the CCR, sales were contributed by projects such as Hyll on Holland (28 units), Perfect Ten (17 units), Leedon Green (16 units) and The Hyde (15 units) which collectively accounted for 41% of the market segment’s sale in the month. In the RCR, sales were contributed by projects such as Riviere (27 units), Forett at Bukit Timah (15 units) and Bartley Vue (11 units) which accounted 32.3% of the segment’s sales. Among the top 10 best-selling projects islandwide, four were located in the CCR and another four located in the OCR, which reflects the firming of demand in the CCR as foreign demand recovers, as well as the gravitation of demand towards suburban homes with tightening finance, respectively.
The bulk of the price increases for the overall market was driven by the OCR, driven chiefly by the median price of $2,110 psf for units sold at AMO Residence. Consequently, about three quarter of new sales in the OCR in July were priced in the $2,000-2,500 psf range, undoubtedly not seen before in the OCR segment. In the primary market, median prices in July rose by over 18% mom in the OCR, while prices dipped marginally in the CCR and RCR. In the RCR, we observed a greater proportion of buyers pivoting to smaller and more affordable units, sized 700-1,000 sqft and $1.5-2million, likely in a bid to maintain housing affordability amid rising interest rates. Apart from AMO Residence, we note that only four out of the remaining nine top-selling projects saw increase in the monthly median prices, attesting to caution on the part of developers to ensure pricing competitiveness for their projects.
Looking ahead, we expect new home sales to hold up in the coming months as labour market conditions remain tight. While the inflationary environment and lacklustre financial markets are likely to push homebuyers to consider and seek out property as an effective hedge against inflation, tighter financing conditions are likely to cap the strength of home sales. In addition, the continual sombre economic data points and forecasts are likely to help rein in unfettered demand. We expect overall pricing growth to soften slightly for the rest of this year – about 8% for the full year compared with 10.6% last year. The primary market is still expected to clock about 10,000 units of home sales.
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