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| Year on year, resales last month dived 62.2 per cent compared to April 2019.PHOTO: ST FILE |
The partial lockdown measures from the start of a "circuit breaker" period hit Singapore's property market in April, sending the resales of private non-landed homes tumbling although again prices barely moved, according to flash data on Tuesday (May 12).
The number of condominiums and private apartments resold in April plunged 57.3 per cent to 309 units from 723 units in March, the figures from real estate portal SRX Property showed.
Year on year, resales last month dived 62.2 per cent compared to April 2019. They were also 66.8 per cent lower than the five-year average volumes for the month of April.
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Orange Tee & Tie's head of research and consultancy Christine Sun said she found April's 309 resale home transactions "encouraging" given that no house viewings could be conducted during the circuit breaker period, which bgean on April 7.
"Although some have turned to virtual house tours as an alternative, it will still take time for remote house viewings to gain traction as potential buyers may still prefer to make a final inspection of the units before they make a purchase," she said.
She also noted that while the resale volume was low when compared to recent months, it was still not the lowest-ever. Using URA realis data as a gauge, as SRX historical data was not immediately available, she said the last lowest volume was 305 units resold in January 2015.
Ms Sun sees resales falling further to around 250-300 units in May with the circuit breaker measures still in place, while around 500 units could be sold after the measures are eased are eased and house viewings can resume.
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SRX's data for last month also showed overall resale prices dipped just 0.2 per cent over March as sellers strove to hold onto their asking prices. Resale prices were 0.7 per cent lower than a year ago.
The highest price for a resale unit last month was $27.7 million paid for a luxury freehold apartment at Ardmore Park. The Business Times reported last week that Huang Youlong, the businessman husband of Chinese actress Vicki Zhao, had bought a penthouse at Ardmore Park for $27.65 million or about S$3,164 per square foot based on the strata area of 8,740 sq ft.
In the city fringes, a freehold unit at The Waterside in Tanjong Rhu went for $3.8 million. The most expensive sale in the suburbs last month was a unit at Hillion Residences in the Dairy Farm/Bukit Panjang area, which resold for $2.7 million.
Source: SRX (12 May 2020)
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