Sales of private non-landed housing units to foreigners rise to 6% in 2Q2019: Edmund Tie

By Bong Xin Ying

/ EdgeProp Singapore |

September 12, 2019 2:45 PM SGT

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SINGAPORE (EDGEPROP) - In 2Q2019, the proportion of sales of private non-landed housing units to Singaporeans (SCs), Singapore permanent residents (SPRs) and foreigners (NPRs) remained steady, according to Edmund Tie’s 2Q2019 Housing Report released on Sept 10. The sales to NPRs, however, rose by one percentage point to 6% in 2Q2019. The proportion of mainland Chinese buyers hit a low of 22% in 2Q2019.

NPRs continued to prefer units in the Core Central Region (CCR), and there is increased demand for units priced above $4 million. SCs and SPRs preferred developments in the Rest of Central Region (RCR) and Outside Central Region (OCR).

The proportion of SCs and SPRs buying units priced from under $1 million to $3 million remained relatively steady, but the proportion of SCs purchasing units priced from $3 million to $4 million rose. SCs and SPRs buying units priced above $4 million fell.

2Q2019 new-sale and resale volumes up

In 2Q2019, new sales saw a 30.6% increase, from 1,720 units in 1Q2019 to the current 2,246 units. Resale volumes also saw an 18.2% rise to 1,966 units. In total, the sales volume in 2Q2019 at 4,212 units is the highest since 3Q2018, when the cooling measures were introduced, notes Edmund Tie. Also in 2Q2019, the URA’s non-landed price index grew by 2% q-o-q, in contrast to minus 1.1% last quarter.

The report notes that the price growth was “largely underpinned” by the higher new launch prices in the RCR. This is especially so at developments such as Sky Everton and Amber Park which saw strong take-up rates, at 48.9% of 262 launched units and 76.7% of 150 units during the first-weekend launches, respectively.

New non-landed project launches

The higher number of new project launches and units released for sale in 1H2019 would mean an increase in the total new sales volume. In 1H2019, the total new sales volume increased by 7.4% y-o-y, while in 2Q2019, the uptrend was continued with new sales volume seeing a spike of 30.6% q-o-q.

In the RCR, new sales increased by more than 83%, supported by the launch of 9 new projects in 2Q2019. New sales in the CCR decreased by 12%, which the report says is partly due to the fewer number of new project launches, coupled with the shift in buyers’ interest to the RCR and OCR.

However, despite the new project launches more than doubling from six in 1Q2019 to 16 in 2Q2019, the units offered were much lower in total. They are at 2,700 units, unlike more than 4,900 units in 1Q2019, which had smaller unit sizes. The proportion of units priced below $1 million decreased from 37% to 24% of the total new unit sales in 2Q2019.

With developers releasing projects from en bloc sites they purchased from during 2017 to mid-2018, the new unit prices also reflect the high land prices that they paid for.

Non-landed resales

For most resale units, the unit price ranges remained relatively unchanged q-o-q. There was, however, an increase in the proportion of resale and larger-sized units priced above $3 million, from 8% to 11% in 2Q2019. Across all market segments, resale volume increased, with CCR and RCR rising by about 20%.

The market share of resale units fell from 49.2 to 46.7% of total sales, which highlights buyers’ preferences for new units, notes the report.

Outlook

According to Edmund Tie, the outlook for 2H2019 “remains cautiously optimistic with new sales volume likely to achieve our forecast of 8,000 to 10,000 units in 2019, while prices are largely expected to stay stable with an upside of up to 3%”.

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