7,267 units in the residential sector changed hands in Q2 2021. The residential sector accounted for 56% of the total property investment sales at $3 billion.
Property investment sales in Singapore increased 15.4% quarter-on-quarter to $5.48 billion in the second quarter of 2021, with the residential sector accounting for 56% of the total sales at $3 billion, revealed an Edmund Tie report.
Of the total residential sales, $1.2 billion were from the Government Land Sales (GLS) programme.
“As there was no land sale activity in Q1 2021, the government’s sale of three residential sites in Q2 2021 drew intense competition with seven to fifteen bidders per site,” noted the report.
In Q2 2021, the residential sector saw 7,267 units change hands, down 10.3% from the previous quarter. This comes as new sales and secondary market volumes both fell 18.5% and 4.1% quarter-on-quarter, respectively.
Across the market segments, the Rest of Central Region (RCR) posted a more significant decline in new sales volume at 40.9% quarter-on-quarter compared to the 2.3% quarter-on-quarter drop registered in the Outside Central Region (OCR).
New sales volume within the Core Central Region (CCR), on the other hand, increased 16.6% quarter-on-quarter.
“The growth in new sales volume in the CCR was driven by the location of the new residential project launches of the year. There were nine significant launches of non-landed projects between January and end-May 2021, out of which five (Midtown Modern, The Atelier, Irwell Hill Residences, Peak Residence, and Grange 1866) were located in the CCR,” said Edmund Tie.
Meanwhile, flash estimates from the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) for Q2 2021 showed that the Property Price Index (PPI) for all private homes increased for the fifth consecutive quarter, although at a slower rate of 0.9% quarter-on-quarter compared to the 3.3% quarter-on-quarter growth seen in Q1 2021.
Specifically, prices for non-landed private homes rose at a marginally faster rate compared to those for landed private homes.
Prices for non-landed properties within the OCR increased 1.8% quarter-on-quarter in Q2 2021, while the CCR and the RCR saw non-landed property prices climb by 0.6% and 0.3%, respectively.
“This trend indicates a strong demand for units in the OCR, against the backdrop of prevailing decentralisation and work-from-home trends,” said the report.
Over at the private homes rental market, total leasing volumes marginally declined by 1% quarter-on-quarter to 23,622 transactions in Q1 2021. On an annual basis, however, rental volumes increased 9%, indicating a relatively stable private homes rental market.
Looking ahead, Lam Chern Woon, Senior Director of Research and Consulting at Edmund Tie, expects demand for private homes to remain steady amidst the low-interest rate environment and ample liquidity.
“Barring possible imposition of government cooling measures, the private homes market is likely to remain on sound footing with transaction activity staying robust. On the supply side, developers could continue to price new units at a premium to account for increases in construction costs resultant from a tight foreign labour market and delayed timelines due to COVID-19,” he added.
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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
