In the month of Nov, 785 private residential units were sold by developers in November, 3.3% higher than the previous month and 8.7% drop y-o-y, according to URA data. New home sales remained moderate as school holidays began in the later part of November, and launch numbers have not picked up substantially, says Ong Teck Hui, national director of research & consultancy at JLL.

Three new projects were launched in Nov with a total of 450 units. Of the 44 units launched at Rezi 35, 12 were sold at a median price of $1,595 psf. The 735-unit Parc Botannia launched 357 units with 253 taken up at a median price of $1,287 psf. Link Residence @ Holland, a landed development, placed two of its four units on the market but none were sold.

The top-selling projects during the month were: Parc Botannia (253 units at median price of $1,287 psf); Queens Peak (71 units at median price of $1,694 psf); Kingsford Waterbay (38 units at $1,346 psf), Sims Urban Oasis (35 units at median price of $1,508 psf) and Gem Residences (34 units at median price of $1,517 psf).

According to JLL’s Ong, an estimated 10,247 units were sold from January to November this year, which is 31.9% higher than the same period in 2016.

Nicholas Mak, executive director of ZACD Group expects private new home sales (excluding executive condos) for the whole of 2017 to range between 10,700 and 11,000, which is about 34% to 38% higher than the previous year’s. Meanwhile, PropNex expects private new home sales (excluding ECs) for 2017 to be higher at 11,600 units.

New launches at the start of the year are expected to be limited, according to ZACD's Mak. He reckons only about a handful of new residential launches (including ECs) will be launched before the Lunar New Year, which falls on Feb 16, 2018.