New private condo sales jumped 18% in October

Discover last month’s best performer.

Developers sold 765 private residential units in October, an 18% month-on-month increase as developers stepped up their launches to capitalize on existing demand ahead of the annual school-holiday season. Data released today by the URA revealed that 649 units were launched last month, up 26% month-on-month.

According to PropNex, buying activity in October was dominated by 4 projects – Marina One Residences, Coco Palms, Lakeville and The Skywoods.

Marina One Residences led the good performance in the Core Central Region (CCR) in October, accounting for 49.5% of new private home sales. The Rest of Central Region (RCR) and the Outside Central Region (CCR) accounted for 16.1% and 34.1% respectively.

“Even though the private residential market was relatively soft, some projects still enjoyed relatively good sales if they were perceived to be attractively priced by buyers, buying demand was not totally absent in the market but it had to be drawn out by attractive pricing,” noted PropNex.

Here’s more from PropNex:

In the current market, it is difficult for developers to achieve more than 80% sales at the initial launch date as buyers need more time to sort out their finances. Projects (such as Coco Palms and Lakeville) that are priced right will continue to sell in the following months after their launch. This is a trend that may continue into the following months.

Upcoming launches of Sophia Hills and Tree Residences might bring renewed activity into the market and possibly close the year on a high. But most of the attention will be on the EC market as the drought of new launches in this sector welcome new launches of Lake Life, Bellewoods and Bellewaters, The Amore and The Terrace.