Anurag Maloo, head of partnerships at Seedstars. SEEDSTARS
Resale prices for non-landed private homes in Singapore held steady last month despite another plunge in sales volume during the second month of the circuit breaker period, flash figures from real estate portal SRX Property showed on Tuesday.
About 171 units were resold last month, similar to levels seen during the financial crisis of 2009. This volume is a 43 per cent decrease from the 300 units resold in April, SRX figures show.
Last month’s resale volume is also 80 per cent lower than in May last year, and 83.1 per cent off the five-year average volume for the month of May.
Overall, last month’s prices finished 0.1 per cent higher than in April. Year-on-year, they were 0.6 per cent lower than May last year.
Areas in Singapore saw a mix of price changes as the rest of the central region (RCR) or city fringes increased by 1.7 per cent, while prices in the core central region (CCR) or prime districts fell by 0.2 per cent, and the outside of central region (OCR) fell by 0.5 per cent.
Christine Sun, head of research and consultancy at OrangeTee and Tie Pte Ltd, noted that the sharp fall in volume indicates that the resale market could be highly dependent on physical house viewings.
Looking ahead, ERA Realty head of research and consultancy Nicholas Mak predicts that resale transaction volume in June will likely vary between 150 and 300 units, similar to in April and last month, as buyers and agents are still not allowed to inspect the homes.
He said: “However, there could be a growing group of buyers and sellers waiting for the day that the restrictions are further lifted.
“The accumulation of pent-up demand could lead to a jump in transaction volume when the market participants are once again allowed to freely visit and view properties for sale.”
SRX data also shows that the highest transacted price for a resale unit last month came from an apartment at Nassim Park Residences, which went for S$10.6 million (US$7.6 million).
In the city fringes, the most expensive sale was a unit at The Seafront on Meyer resold for S$2.95 million. In the outlying areas, the highest transacted price was for a unit at Kovan Melody, which went for S$1.8 million.
Sun noted that 18 luxury apartments were resold for S$10 million and above this year, of which three changed hands during the circuit breaker period.
Aside from the third floor unit at Nassim Park Residences which was sold on May 4, the other two units are also in the Orchard Road area.
They comprise a high-floor unit at Ardmore Park, which sold for S$27.7 million or S$3,163 per square foot (US$24,500 per sqm) on April 24, as well as a unit at The Claymore, which went for S$17 million or S$3,456 per square foot on April 13.
A SRX indicator measuring how much a buyer is overpaying (positive value) or underpaying (negative value) for a property based on its computer-generated market value saw a S$1,000 increase compared to April.
The data for the overall transaction over X-value (TOX) includes only districts with more than 10 resale transactions. A S$0 TOX means buyers are getting units at the estimated market value.
TOX for last month increased to negative S$10,000.
The highest median TOX was recorded in district 1’s Boat Quay/Raffles Place/Marina areas at negative S$2,100, followed by district 14’s Eunos/Geylang/Paya Lebar areas at negative S$12,600.
District 15’s East Coast/Marine Parade posted the lowest median TOX at negative S$40,000, followed by district 18’s Pasir Ris/Tampines at negative S$13,000.
THE STRAITS TIMES (SINGAPORE)/ASIA NEWS NETWORK
