Chart of the Day: EC market to pick up after 34.8% YoY drop in October

Three launches will lead the recovery.

The government introduced a sale restriction in Jan 13, following the seventh round of cooling measures. After this introduction, the following projects are the first to be launched this year.

According to a report by OSK-DMG, with the launch of the 546-units Lakelife EC (Evia Real Estate; Jurong Lake District), 561-units Bellewoods EC (Qingjian; Woodlands) and 651-units Bellwaters EC (Qingjian: Anchorvale Crescent) in Nov 14, the EC market is expected to start picking up in the coming months.

Purportedly, Lake Life EC was 98% sold on opening weekend with 534 units snapped up while Bellewoods has garnered 400+ applications on booking day on 1 Nov. Internet reports also pointed to Bellewaters being 21% sold to-date. 

Last month marked the sale of 90 ECs (Sep 14: 59 ECs) up 52.5% MoM but down 34.8% YoY, driven mostly by Forestville (Hao Yuan), Waterwoods (Sing Holdings/UE E&C) and Skypark residences (JBE Holdings/Keong Hong). 

Under the sala restriction, developers of EC sites can only launch them for sale 15 months from the date of award of the sites or after the physical completion of foundations works, whichever is earlier.