PDF versionSingapore, - According to an official survey of property developers in Singapore, improvement in the private real estate market witnessed in the month of May persisted in June 2008 when 1,069 units were launched for sale, an expansion of around 125.5% month-on-month (mom). Likewise, the total number of units sold by developers climbed from 441 units sold in April to 801 units in May. However, in terms of the ratio of new sales to the number of units launched, this value dipped further by 18.1 percentage points to register at 74.9%. This would result in a gradual increase in the number of unsold properties in the developers’ inventory.
The region with the greatest proportion of units launched for sale shifted from the Core Central Region (CCR) in May 2008 to the Rest of Central Region (RCR) in June 2008. Specifically, the number of units launched was observed to be the greatest in the mid-tier, Rest of Central Region (RCR) area when it grew by approximately 243.8% mom. Subsequently, it was the suburban Outside Central Region (OCR) area, which saw the next significant increase of about 101.7% mom after recording a decline in the preceding month. On the other hand, the high-end Core Central Region (CCR) only accounted for 20.7% of launches in the private market for the month of June. (See Figure 4 and 5)
On a quarterly basis, the RCR saw an increase in terms of its share of units launched, placing it as the region
with the greatest number of units launched in 2Q 2008 when it achieved 44.2% of the market share.
Correspondingly, this decrease in the proportion of launches in the OCR to 33.0% from 59.6% in 1Q 2008 can
be explained by the fact that the rise in project launches and sales in this region would only be seen in July 2008
and thus not reflected in the 2Q 2008 figures. In addition, the large number of units launched in the RCR was
primarily due to two major projects, Dakota Residences and Clover by the Park, which have 210 and 308 units
launched in June respectively. Both projects have managed to sell slightly more than half of their total number of
units.
With regard to sales, total new sales climbed by 81.6% mom where the suburban Outside Central Region was the only sub-market that experienced a drop in sales volume, easing by 3.2% mom. In 2Q 2008, figures indicate that both the RCR and OCR have equal market share in terms of the total units sold, where both regions achieved about 39% of all new sales.
The weaker performance in the high-end segment in June is reflected by the absence of transaction of
apartments above S$4,000 psf in the primary market (see Figure 3). The development that recorded the lowest
transacted price was Sunflower Regency at S$541 psf located at Lorong 20 Geylang. Conversely, the
development that achieved the highest price was Nassim Park Residences, situated on Nassim Road, at a price
of S$3,653 psf.
Nicholas Mak, Director of Consultancy & Research Department, Knight Frank, +65 6228 6821
Knight Frank and its New York-based partner, Newmark Knight Frank, operate over 140 offices in established and emerging property markets on five continents. Last year, the companies handled transactions valued at over $41billion with annual revenues of over $545 million.
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