New home sales down 37.4% in March: URA

Buyers continue to hold back on purchasing as sentiments worsen.

New home sales crashed 37.4% YoY from 1,054 units in 2019 and 32.4% MoM from 976 units in February to 660 units in March, according to the Urban Redevelopment Authority’s (URA) developers’ sales survey. Including executive condominium (EC) units, developers sold 904 units, a 31.3% drop from 1,315 units sold in February.

Despite this, this month’s figures are still higher than the 620 units sold in January. It also brings private home sales (excluding ECs) to 2,256 units in Q1 2020, 22.7% higher than the 1,838 units in Q1 2019.

“March’s 2020 sales marked the lowest monthly March sales in five years since March 2015 when developers sold only 613 units. As such, buyers held back on their purchasing decisions, amidst heightened economic uncertainty,” commented Wong Xian Yang, associate director for research at Cushman & Wakefield.

Further, Christine Sun, head of research & consultancy at OrangeTee & Tie, noted that there was an absence of major launches. The number of launched units dipped 38% from 933 units in February to 578 units in March.

The best-selling private residential projects in March were OLA (EC), which sold 170 units at a median price of $1,139 psf; Jadescape, which moved 76 units at a median price of $1,719 psf; Treasure at Tampines, which moved 69 units at a median price of $1,355 psf; and Parc Esta which transacted 63 units at a median price of $1,657 psf.

Amongst regions, only the Core Central Region (CCR) saw lower sales last month. New sales in the Rest of Central Region (RCR) rose 7.2% MoM to 282 units, whilst sales in the Outside Central Region (OCR) rose 10.6% to 333 units in March.

For the high-end segment, the number of luxury home sales plummeted from a high of 412 units in February to 45 units in March. Sun also added that the number of non-permanent residents buying non-landed new homes dipped to 25 units over the same period, below the 51 units that were averagely sold over the past 12 months.

“A temporary pullback in property sales could be expected next month as show flats are now closed and house viewings postponed as part of the circuit breaker measures,” she added.

Moving forward, Wong stated that developer sales are expected to range between 6,900 to 7,900 units for the whole of 2020, about 20% to 30% lower compared to 2019’s tally of 9,912 units if the circuit breaker period will not extend.

“Nonetheless, Singapore's long-term fundamentals remain unchanged: underlying local demand for private residential properties remains strong and Singapore's perceived status as a safe haven could garner increased interest from foreign buyers during these uncertain times. Anecdotally, foreign Chinese buyers are on the lookout for Singapore properties and are waiting for an opportune time to enter the market,” Wong said.