Resale condo transactions slipped 7.8% to 11,215 units in 2018

Almost half or 5,520 units were transacted in the OCR.

Resale condo transactions declined 7.8% YoY to 11,215 as units sold in H2 almost halved (47%) compared to H1, Edmund Tie & Company (ETCo) noted in a report.

Across respective markets, resale volumes fell by 45-50% compared to the volumes in H1 2018. ETCo noted that the Outside Central Region (OCR) accounted for almost half (49.2%) of the total transactions as 5,520 resale units were transacted in the area, followed by the Rest of the Central Region (RCR) which accounted for 30.4% or 3,412 resold units, and the Core Central Region (CCR), which accounted for 20.4% or 2,283 resale transactions.

ETCo also revealed that units under $1.5m accounted for 61.8% of the total resale transactions, higher than the 61.1% they accounted for back in 2017. Meanwhile, the proportion of units priced under $1m remained relatively unchanged at 27.6%, whilst a slight increase was observed in the proportion of sold units (34.2% from 34%) priced between $1-1.5m.

Moreover, the report also noted that units above $1.5-2m comprised 18.1% (from 17.5% in 2017) of the resale transactions in 2018. The proportion of units priced above $2m declined from 21.4% to 20.1% in 2018.

“Although the overall Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) price index had risen by some 7.9%, a higher portion of the price increase is typically reflected in the new sales market relative to the resale market. This is not uncommon as the resale market usually consists of older housing stock which is also comparatively more affordable than new units within the same locality,” ETCo explained.

For 2019, the firm believes that the resale market is set for a tight competition from the new sales market, particularly for well-priced and well-amenitised projects.

“Resale volume for non-landed properties is expected to moderate with prices of older leasehold properties likely to face some downside pressure,” it added.