Condo resale prices rise for 6th straight month in January on strong sales
SINGAPORE – The market for resale condominiums and private apartments continued to strengthen in January, with sales volume rising and prices climbing for the sixth straight month.
Observers said home buyers were attracted to these properties as they found them more affordable than new launches. Sentiments were also buoyed by prospects of economic recovery.
Resale prices rose 1.2 per cent in January from December, with prices up 2.2 per cent from a year ago, according to flash figures from real estate portal SRX Property on Tuesday (Feb 9).
Sales volume increased month on month by 8.6 per cent to 1,587 units. This also made January the seventh straight month where more than 1,000 resale units were sold.
Last month’s sales volume was also 128.3 per cent higher than a year ago, and 136.5 per cent more than the five-year average volumes for the month of January.
Ms Christine Sun, senior vice-president of research and analytics at OrangeTee & Tie, said more buyers are now entering the resale market as they might be expecting prices to rise further since global economies, including Singapore, are likely to perform better this year.
She added that some buyers have turned to the resale market as prices of new homes have been climbing in recent months.
“The widening price gap between resale and new properties have made some resale properties in certain locations more attractive to buyers,” said Ms Sun.
Likewise, PropNex head of research and content Wong Siew Ying noted that the median price of new non-landed private homes, such as executive condominiums, was about 41 per cent higher than that of their resale counterparts in the fourth quarter of last year.
This was up from the price gap of 36.3 per cent in the third quarter, she said, citing caveats lodged on the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) Realis database.
Last month, the median transacted price of new non-landed private homes was 35.5 per cent higher than that of resale units sold, according to caveat data.
Ms Wong said: “Given the firm new launch prices, buyers who are price-sensitive or more financially prudent – being mindful of the potential challenges from a protracted Covid-19 pandemic – will be attracted to the more affordable homes in the resale market.”
The highest transacted price for a private resale flat last month was $17.7 million for a unit at Le Nouvel Ardmore near Orchard Road.
The highest transacted price in the city fringes was $5.9 million for a unit at The Interlace in Depot Road, while a unit at Waterview was resold for $3.3 million, the highest price in the outside central region.
Ms Wong expects that more than 10,000 resale private homes could be sold this year, thanks to sustained demand from local buyers. URA data showed that 10,729 resale units were sold last year, about 20 per cent more than in 2019.
She added: “In view of the underlying demand, we anticipate that resale prices could continue to inch up, but likely at a slower pace compared with new launches. However, any government intervention in the form of fresh cooling measures will likely snap the growth momentum in the resale market.”
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