New private homes sold in June jump 53% year-on-year
Date：2017/07/18
By Lee Xin En on Jul 17, 2017
[The Strait Times] SINGAPORE - The number of new private homes sold in June jumped by 53 per cent from a year ago, according to Urban Redevelopment Authority data released on Monday (July 17).
Developers sold 820 units last month, 284 or 53 per cent more than the 536 new private homes moved in June last year.
June sales were 21 per cent lower than the 1,039 homes sold in May, which was the third straight month when transactions exceeded 1,000. June, the school holiday month, is a traditionally lull period for the property market, as well as having fewer number of homes hitting the market.
Developers launched just 159 homes - excluding executive condos (EC) - in June, roughly half of the 370 homes launched in May.
Sales in the suburban areas led the way last month with 344 transactions, followed by 301 in the city fringe and 64 in the core central region.
The top-selling private residential project last month was The Santorini in Tampines, which moved 75 units at a median price of S$1,026 psf.
Parc Riviera in West Coast Vale came in second, selling 55 units at a median price of S$1,218 psf.
In the EC segment, 244 new units were transacted last month. In April, 370 new units were sold. This brought the total new home sales in June to 1,064 units.
Analysts say the private property market is showing mixed signs of recovery.
In new home sales, transactions have gone up significantly, bringing the total, excluding ECs, for the first half of this year to 6,567. This marks a 72 per cent increase from the 3,814 homes sold for the same period last year.
Other parts of the private residential market show dramatic improvement. Developers have bid record prices in hotly contested land sales and en bloc deals have already surpassed last year's level.
However, overall private property prices have declined for 15 straight quarters and rents are still soft after a long spell of decline. A URA flash estimate released earlier this month reflected a further decline of 0.3 per cent for the second quarter this year.
URA's flash estimates for new home sales are compiled based on transaction prices given in contracts submitted for stamp duty payment and data on units sold by developers up till mid-June. Full statistics will be released by URA on July 28.