Condo resale prices rose 1.7% in 2019

The OCR posted the sharpest growth in prices at 2.3%.

Condo resale prices rose 1.7% YoY in 2019, according to data from SRX. On a monthly basis, overall prices remained flat in December compared to November’s figures.

The outside central region (OCR) saw the sharpest growth in prices for the year at 2.3%. It is followed by the core central region (CCR) and the rest of central region (RCR), with prices all edging up 1.5% and 0.6%, respectively.

However, resale volumes crashed 27.4% to 9,017 units in 2019. December volumes recorded a 15.4% MoM decline to about 650 units, but rose 21.5% on a YoY basis.

OCR took up nearly half or 48.8% of the volume during the month. More than a quarter, or 26.7%, came from the RCR, whilst 24.5% came from the CCR.

According to OrangeTee & Tie head of research and consultancy Christine Sun, the lacklustre market demand may have been caused by stiff competition from many new project launches and weaker market sentiment.

“Nevertheless, the strong buyer sentiment in the new sale market seemed to have spilled over to the secondary market in recent months. Buying interest seemed to have picked up at a few completed developments located near some of the newly launched projects,” Sun commented.

Four Seasons Park recorded the highest transacted price for a resale unit in the month at $17.9m. In RCR, the priciest resold unit was a unit at Reflections at Keppel Bay for $7.2m, whilst the priciest in the OCR was a Bayshore Park unit for $3.2m.

OrangeTee & Tie projects demand for resale homes to remain around 8,000-9,000 units for 2020 despite recovering buying sentiment, owing to stiff competition brought by upcoming supply. Condo prices are expected to grow 1-3% at the same time.