Private new home sales in April fell 30.3% m-o-m, from 1,054 to 735 transactions, based on developers’ monthly sales data by URA.
Including EC units, developers sold 744 units total for the month, a decrease of 29.9% m-o-m.
Meanwhile, the number of units launched fell sharply by 75.5% m-o-m to 444 units in April.
The top five best-selling new launches in April were The Tre Ver, Parc Botannia, Stirling Residences, Treasure At Tampines and Riverfront Residences. The Tre Ver emerged as the top-selling development, with 81 units sold at an average price of $1,624 psf. That was followed by Parc Botannia, which sold 61 units at an average price of $1,294 psf.
“Over 76.1% of the units that were sold for the month of April consisted of projects that were previously launched in 2018,” points out Ismail Gafoor, CEO of PropNex Realty.
“Buyers are foreseeing that the subsequent new project launches might not be any lower [in prices], as developers have previously committed to high land bid prices. Hence, buyers and investors are gravitating towards projects that are rightly priced,” he explains.
Of the buyers, 65% purchased homes below $1.5 million in April, according to Huttons Research. Only 20% of the buyers purchased homes that cost between $1.5 million and $2 million.
“With more new launches expected in the coming months and purchasers being spoilt for choice, we can anticipate that the developers might dangle incentives and discounts to entice these buyers and investors,” Gafoor adds.
“Sales performance has been encouraging at many existing launches, given that the cooling measures are still in place and a number of projects have been launched in recent months,” says Christine Sun, head of research & consultancy at OrangeTee & Tie. “Some large-sized projects have already sold more than 40 per cent of their entire development within a 12-month launch period from May 2018 to April 2019.”
She adds: “The good sales performance across many projects indicates that buyer demand is still strong and that projects with attributes like good locality, distinctive designs, attractive pricing and being developed by reputed developers, will continue to see healthy demand.”