Chart of the Day: Check out how property sales plummeted since 2004 peak

Only 32 were listed by mortgagees.

According to Colliers International, of the 488 properties that were put up for sale in 2013, 32 were listed by mortgagees and the remaining bulk of 456 properties were put up by owners.

Interestingly, of the 32 properties that were put up for mortagee sales, 14 of them were industrial properties – all of which were strata-titled units. This is more than tripled the 4 industrial properties that were put up for mortgagee sale in 2012.

Ms Grace Ng, Deputy Managing Director of Colliers International, comments, “This could be attributed to the challenging business environment faced by the small and medium enterprises which include a manpower crunch and rising costs. The seller’s stamp duty on industrial properties have also effectively curbed speculative demand and reduced the potential pool of buyers for industrial properties.”

Meanwhile, the trend of having more owners adopting auction as a mode of sale continues – given the lull in the secondary sales market and the chance for greater exposure for their properties through prominent auction advertisements, as well as ready access to a group of potential investors and home buyers.