Through the roof: May residential sales skyrocket on back of price cuts

It’s a record sale since TDSR was enforced.

Developers may be popping the champagne tonight in their offices as 1,470 homes were sold in May, representing a whopping 97% rebound from April’s dreary sales volume.

According to Colliers director of Research and Advisory Chia Siew Chuin, this is the first time that developers sold over 1,000 units in a month for 2014. “It is also the highest monthly sales volume achieved since the imposition of TDSR in June 2013,” she said.

She added that some developers were able to overcome the lag in buying momentum by lowering the prices of their projects which were already on the market.

But sales volume is expected to ease again in June, as it is a traditional lull period.

Here’s more from Colliers:

Developers who stepped up on their launches ahead of the June school holidays were rewarded, as new project launches were generally met with healthy response.

For instance, Wheelock Properties sold another 100 units at The Panorama at a median price of $1,241 per sq ft, after it reduced prices by some 8% from a median price of $1,343 per sq ft achieved at its launch in January 2014.

CapitaLand also sold another 15 units at Sky Habitat at a median price of $1,336 per sq ft, after moving some 80 units at a median price of $1,377 per sq ft in April 2014.

The prices at Sky Habitat were reduced from a median price of $ 1,583 per sq ft achieved for the 131 units sold at its launch in April 2012.

Encouraged by the healthy interest seen in May 2014, developers may continue to launch projects ahead of the lunar seventh month (largely regarded by the Chinese as an inauspicious period to commit to home purchases), which falls in August this year.

Primary market sales volume is expected to ease to the region of 600-900 units in June as developers concentrate on gathering potential buying interest and moving previously launched projects before embarking on official launches for their new projects closer to July.