Properties sales boomed 48.5% to S$41.38 million

And this is contributed by a number of high-value non-residential property sales, instead of residential type in 2Q 2011.

In a release, Colliers International stated, following a lackluster start in 1Q 2011, the Singapore auction property market experienced a healthier second quarter, with the total value of properties sold increasing by 48.5 per cent on a quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) basis to S$41.38 million in 2Q 2011.

Ms Grace Ng, Deputy Managing Director of Colliers International, says, “The second quarter presented an atypical phenomenon, in which the auction property market witnessed an absence of high-value residential transactions, as well as a general drop in the value of residential sales. Instead, therewas a major shift in buyers’ focus to commercial and industrial properties.

This could be attributed to buyers’ increasing price sensitivity and their wait-and-see attitude amid themore stringent cooling measures introduced to the residential sector, which diverted buying interests from the sector to non-residential ones.”

Consequently, the total sales value in 1H 2011 tallied to S$69.25 million, generated from the sale of 33 properties. This is 49.4 per cent down from the S$136.91 million garnered in 2H 2010 and 20.4 per cent down from the S$86.99 million in 1H 2010.

A total of 162 properties were put up for auction sale in 2Q 2011 – of which, 153 were put up by property owners, while only 9 were mortgagee sale. The low proportion of mortgagee sale reflects the improved financial position of mortgagors, on the back of Singapore’s healthy economy, the continued low interest rate environment and good rental market which allows mortgagors to service their loans.