January private home sales surged 43% to 2,013 units

But this will likely peter out soon.

According to CIMB, 2,013 new private homes were sold in Jan this year, boosted by launches prior to the roll-out of tightening measures and rebates.

The firm expects the monthly figure to taper off going forward, but sales will still be supported by cheaper launches and impending price cuts/rebates.

The strong headline numbers reflect resilient demand and developers’ willingness to lower ASPs. "We think the tightening measures are unlikely to be eased anytime soon," CIMB said.

Here's more from CIMB:

2,013 new private homes were sold in Jan (+43% mom, +8% yoy) and island-wide take-up stood at 112%, with more units sold than launched.

Top-selling projects contributing to substantial proportion of sales were launches prior to 11 Jan measures (87 units sold at Echelon, 404 units at La Fiesta) and projects where c.5-15% discounts/rebates were offered (263 units sold at D'Leedon, Echelon, La Fiesta, 372 units sold at Q Bay Residences).

7 units at Echelon were returned in Jan. Excluding D'Leedon sales, high-end volumes were still muted, hovering at under 100 units each month since Nov last year.

The numbers were swayed by large launches prior to the roll-out of tightening measures, but the large number of units sold at projects after discounts reflected resilient demand and the effectiveness of price cuts/rebates. 

We expect new pcoming launches to price units at a discount to/on par with neighbouring projects in terms of total quantum, and for substantially unsold older projects to introduce rebates to move units.

We think volumes persistently in excess of 2,000 units a month should continue to draw the attention of policy makers, and additional ABSD/tighter LTV rules are unlikely to be removed in the near term.