Private home sales hit a high in August with more than 1,256 new homes sold, amid the Covid-19 pandemic. According to the data released by Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA), sales increased 16.3 per cent compared to a month ago, extending the growth in volume into a fourth straight month. In comparison to last year, the number of units sold was up 11.9% year-on-year.
New home sales have been rising after the circuit breaker period. This is the highest monthly sales in the first 8 months of 2020 – aided by the momentum which started in July and several factors such as some elements of pent-up demand, low interest rates, location of projects, price points relative to existing or nearby projects and developers’ pricing strategy.
There were 1,582 new homes launched in August, 82 per cent higher than the 869 homes launched in July. Three new projects were launched in August – Forrett at Bukit Timah and Noma in the Rest of Central Region (RCR) and Mooi Residences in the Core Central Region (CCR). The rest of the new supply came from existing projects such as The Florence Residences (260 units), Affinity At Serangoon (252 units), The Woodleigh Residences (210 units) and Jadescape (206 units).
Forrett at Bukit Timah sold 213 units (34%) out of 300 units launched at a median price of S$1,933 psf. Other top performing projects include Treasure at Tampines, with 109 units sold and Parc Clematis, with 90 units sold.
The steady performance of the private residential market is encouraging although overall sentiments remain fairly cautious.