RESALE prices of non-landed private homes inched up 0.3 per cent last month, compared with February,SRX Property estimates.
This was buoyed by the uptick of 0.1 per cent and 1.3 per cent in the Rest of Central Region (RCR) and Outside Central Region (OCR) respectively.
Resale prices in the Core Central Region (CCR) however slipped 1.7 per cent last month. This decline coincided with the launch of CapitaLand's Cairnhill Nine project in Orchard, which property consultants say could have drawn interest away from the resale market in the CCR region.
Still, the 1.95 per cent increase in resale prices in the CCR on a year-on-year basis indicated that astute investors and home buyers continue to look for value prime-property buys, he said.
Based on SRX Property's estimates, resale volume of non-landed private residential transactions jumped 47.6 per cent from a month ago to 577 units in March.
Despite the uptick in resale prices and volumes, DTZ regional head of research (SEA) Lee Nai Jia felt that it was "too early to tell whether the market is on the mend" given that February served as a low base for comparison and resale volumes in March were still significantly lower than in March 2012.
SRX Property revised its resale price index for the non-landed private market in February to reflect a steeper fall of 0.6 per cent instead of a 0.3 per cent fall.
Mr Lim thought the resale volume in March was encouraging, considering that three new projects, Wandervale EC (executive condominium), The Wisteria and Cairnhill Nine were successfully launched in March.
"Moving forward, due to challenging economic and market conditions, sellers who are in a pinch may decide to cut their losses to sell now rather than later," he said.
"So, buyers with the capacity and ability to pick up properties are in an increasingly favourable position," Mr Lim added. "We can expect the private property resale market to remain active in this March to July window before the onset of the Hungry Ghost month."
Business Times
Source: SRX (13 Apr 2016)