SINGAPORE – A spurt of buying by foreigners and new launches helped buoy Singapore’s property market in January, with developers moving 618 private homes in January, up 14.9 per cent from 538 in the previous month.

Developer sales were up 41 per cent from 437 units sold a year ago, marking the highest January sales in seven years, Urban Redevelopment Authority data showed on Monday afternoon (Feb 17). The figures exclude executive condominiums or ECs.

Through the volatile global economic climate, the number of foreign buyers entering the private property market in the core central region (CCR) or Singapore’s prime residential districts have remained stable. Based on the data retrieved from URA Realis, there was an increase of 32.3 per cent (m-o-m) in private new homes purchased by foreigners,” PropNex Realty chief executive Mr Ismail Gafoor said. On a month-on-month basis, the overall volume of CCR transactions jumped 60.2 per cent.

The number of units launched jumped 61.6 per cent to 598 units last month, compared with 370 in December, with three new projects – Leedon Green, The Avenir and Van Holland – all launched in the CCR or prime districts.

The proportion of sales in the luxury segment or CCR rose to its highest level since January 2019 at 21.5 per cent due to more high-end projects launched in January, including the three new launches, which collectively sold 74 units last month, Ms Christine Sun, head of research and consultancy at OrangeTee & Tie, said.

Projects in the city fringes or rest of central region (RCR) accounted for 41.9 per cent of the total sales (excluding ECs), followed by the suburban areas or outside central region (OCR) at 36.6 per cent, she added.

Demand remained resilient among earlier launches. The top 5 best-selling new launches in January were Jadescape, Treasure At Tampines, Parc Esta, Parc Botannia, Parc Clematis. Jadescape (launched in September 2018) was the best performer, with a total of 56 units sold at a median price of $1,690 psf. The second best-selling project was Treasure At Tampines, which sold a total of 50 units at a median price of $1,371 psf.

Including ECs, developers moved 638 units last month, up 15.8 per cent from December and 45.7 per cent higher than in January 2019.

With the government potentially announcing measures during the financial budget to assist affected sectors and the resilient nature of the real estate market, we are likely expect new home sales volume to reach 9,000-10,000 units this year, Mr Ismail said.

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