Private condo resale prices in Districts 9 to 11 hit record-high in March

Prices rose 2.2% from last month thanks to demand for luxury homes.

The price of private condo resales rose 1.5% from February to March 2018, SRX Property revealed.

According to flash data, Core Central Region (CCR), Rest of Central Region (RCR), and Outside Central Region (OCR) recorded a price increase of 2.2%, 1.3%, and 1.3% respectively. “Overall price index continues to increase, CCR and RCR prices continue to set new records in March 2018,” SRX noted. CCR comprises of Districts 9, 10 and 11, plus the Downtown Core Planning Area, and Sentosa.

On a year on year basis, overall prices grew 8.5%, whilst CCR, RCR, and OCR grew 8%, 11.4%, and 7%.

OrangeTee & Tie head of research and consultancy Christine Sun commented, “Prices of resale homes in CCR have risen more possibly due to pent-demand from savvy investors who are in search of value buys in the luxury segment, given that the price gap of private homes between CCR and RCR is still narrow.”

Resale volume jumped 11.4% from 1,176 units in February to 1,310 units in March 2018. Year on year, resale volume in March 2018 was 11.7% higher.

SRX Property also noted that, for the month, private condo resales were transacted $20,000 over the market value based on their median transaction over x-value (T-O-X). “Price increase is broad-based. All districts with at least 10 transactions posted positive, or at least zero, median T-O-X,” it added.

For districts with more than 10 resale transactions in March 2018, District 10 (Tanglin / Holland / Bukit Timah) and District 11 (Watten Estate, Novena, Thomson) posted the highest median T-O-X at POSITIVE $60,000. District 4 (Sentosa / Harbourfront) and District 22 (Jurong) posted a T-O-X of $0.

Sun expects resale prices to continue to rise in the coming months as the market is set to be hit by a supply and demand double whammy - sellers holding back and asking for higher prices whilst demand escalates as more en bloc sellers look for replacement homes in the coming months. “As it seems, some en bloc sellers are already purchasing a new home now before the completion of the en bloc sales as they expect replacement cost to increase significantly in the months ahead,” she added.