Strata-titled retail units sales skyrocket 105% to $130.6m in Q2: Knight Frank

63 strata-titled retail transactions were lodged in Q2, up 50%.

Sales volume of strata-titled retail units, excluding high-valued sales above $100m, jumped 105% QoQ to $130.6m, according to a Knight Frank report.

Overall, 63 strata-titled retail transactions were lodged in the second quarter, up 50% QoQ. Including big sales, first quarter sales posted $453m largely due to the $400m sale of Liang Court.

Also read: Strata-titled retail transaction sales hit $453m in Q1

Freehold strata retail units saw 34 transactions during the same period, up from 18 transactions in Q1. In particular, 8 of them were lodged for Far East Plaza amounting to $12.1m with an average strata area of 494 sqft and a price of $4,554 psf. Six transactions were less than $2m. In contrast, the previous quarter only had one caveat was lodged for Far East Plaza.

On average, freehold strata-titled retail units were transacted at higher average unit prices in Q2, improving by 22.3% QoQ to $3,911 per sqft.

Amongst areas in Singapore, Orchard Planning area recorded higher sales volume than the other planning areas, boosted by the bulk sale of Thong Teck Building, and the sale of multiple units in Far East Plaza.

Knight Frank noted that investments in retail units will become more appealing in the coming months due to the low interest rate environment projected to continue as the US mulls cutting the Fed interest rate. Interest in strata-titled retail developments is also projected to remain healthy for the rest of the year, given higher cost of acquisition for residential units.