Some 14,725 private homes were sold in 2009 in Singapore, bringing the total sales figure close to the record high in 2007, according to CBRE Research.

Mr Li Hiaw Ho, Executive Director, CBRE Research said that the 2009 figure was “second to the record take-up of 14,811 units in 2007, and about 3.5 times the 4,264 units sold in 2008.”

He added “However, based on the caveats lodged to date, the dollar value of the new homes sold in 2009 is only 63% of that in 2007. The lower quantum could be attributed to the dominance of mass market and mid-tier homes in the 2009 basket compared to 2007, which comprised largely high-end homes.”

Mr Li said the residential market has proven its resilience by rising above the economic recession in 2009. “It was a year of opportunistic buying as homebuyers realised that prices had corrected from the peak levels in 2007, starting with mass market projects in the first half of the year, filtering into the mid-tier and then to the high-end projects in the second half of 2009,” he said.