Home buying activity to surge as new launches flood the market

Buyers are keen on quality new projects.

After the property market’s tepid start to the year, analysts expect that buying activity will pick up in coming months as developers launch more projects at competitive prices.

“The first two months of the year were rocked by volatility in the stock market and February was also the Lunar New Year month. Now that the stock market has regained composure, some developers would be more confident in resuming launches especially if the project has strong attributes and can be priced competitively,” said Ong Teck Hui, National Director, Research & Consultancy at JLL.

In past weeks, developers saw strong interest at three new executive condominium (EC) launches, namely The Wisteria, Cairnhill Nine and Wandervale.

“The dramatic turnaround is mainly due to favourable attributes of the projects, including pricing rather than market recovery. The encouraging sales take up indicates that there is firm underlying demand, with buyers waiting at the side lines for favourable opportunities. Stable market conditions might encourage more new projects to be launched and if priced competitively, could draw buyers leading to improved sales volume,” Ong noted.

“It shows that when developers price attractively, good sales can still be achieved. The market is cautious but buyers are always ready to move when the price is right,” noted Eugene Lim, Key Executive Officer of ERA Realty.

Lim stressed that pricing is still key to moving sales, as many buyers now recognize that current prices are very stable and that they will likely have to pay more if not for ongoing cooling measures.

“The name of the game is now value for money. In the next few months we expect to see higher buying activity as more developers launch their projects,” Lim said.