Chart of the Day: Fewer launches in January to May dent new-home sales

There were 124 new units sold for every unit launched.

This chart from Maybank Kim Eng shows that new-home sales were down for the first five months of 2018 due to fewer project launches. There were 124 units sold for every unit launched in the period, lower than 134 last year.

Last year, there were more or less 4,000 units launched, whilst new-home sales played around 5,500 units. In 2018, there were only around 2,500 launched units, and as a result, sold units reached only 3,500.

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“Speculative buying is near its historical low whilst existing measures continues to ensure financial prudence amongst property buyers,” said Maybank KE analyst Derrick Heng.

Overall, housing demand remains strong, as evidenced by healthy overall volumes, including secondary market transactions.The brokerage forecasts new-home sales to reach 12,000 units for this year and expects a stronger 2H2018.