However, year-on-year, new home sales (excluding ECs) jumped 83%, with 892 units shifted in May 2021.
Developers in Singapore sold fewer homes in May as the government implemented tighter restrictions during Singapore’s Phase 2 (Heightened Alert) period, which started on 16 May.
“In response to a resurgence of virus infections, stricter measures were imposed on property sales galleries and house viewings such as having no more than two persons per group (including salesperson) for property viewings,” said Christine Sun, Senior Vice-president of Research and Analytics at OrangeTee & Tie.
“Firms were also encouraged to use electronic means to deliver marketing materials instead of physical copies and to adopt e-signing for all sales documents.”
Data from the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) on Tuesday (15 June) showed that 891 units of new private homes, excluding executive condominiums (ECs), were sold last month, down 29.7% from the 1,268 units shifted in April. On an annual basis, new home sales, excluding ECs, jumped 83%.
Including ECs, developers sold 1,230 units, down 8.8% month-on-month but increased 141.2% year-on-year.
Pearl Lok, Director for Capital Markets for Singapore at Colliers International, noted that the EC market performed well last month “with the launch of Provence Residence EC, which saw a strong take-up of 55%”. She revealed that developers sold 339 EC units in May, up 323.8% from the 80 units transacted in April.
The Outside of Central Region (OCR) accounted for the bulk of last month’s new home sales, excluding ECs, at 45%. The Rest of Central Region (RCR) made up 33.6% and the Core Central Region (CCR) 21.4%.
In May, only three projects were launched—One Bernam, Park Nova and Provence Residence EC.
Provence Residence EC emerged as the best-selling project last month, followed by One Bernam and Treasure at Tampines.
Also on the top ten list were Normanton Park, Parc Central Residences, Midwood, Affinity at Serangoon, The Florence Residences, OLA EC and Sengkang Grand Residences.
Huttons Asia noted that the difference in sales before and after the rollout of Heightened Alert measures is not significant.
“When caveats were analysed based on before and after tighter measures, the split is 55.3% in the period from 1-15 May and 44.7% from 16 to 31 May,” it said.
“Adjusting for the launch of One Bernam and Park Nova, the sales split is 51.2% in the first half of May and 48.8% in the second half of May.”
Sun said the drop in sales was also not as drastic as last year during the circuit breaker period.
“During the first month of the movement restrictions, only 277 (excluding EC) new transactions were recorded in April 2020, tumbling by 58% from 660 units in March 2020. Comparatively, last month’s new home sales excluding ECs were 221.7% higher than the 277 units sold in April 2020,” she shared.
The more robust sales performance for this year comes as the property sector were “more prepared to ensure business continuity and more flexibility in changing its mode of customer engagement”.
Sun noted that many developers and sales agents were “able to switch to remote viewings quickly”.
“Buyers were also getting more accustomed to the use of the virtual and augmented reality that has digitalised the home buying experience and made online searches more seamless and accessible,” she added.
With the number of community cases stabilising, Sun expects new home sales to pick up again once movement restrictions are relaxed.
“There is potential for sales in June to match May’s numbers as the relaxed Covid-19 measures of up to five in a group may see pent-up demand translate into actual sales,” said Huttons.
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Cheryl Chiew, Digital Content Specialist at PropertyGuru, edited this story. To contact her about this story, email: cheryl@propertyguru.com.sg
