The number of private non-landed residential properties which exchanged hands last month rose a significant 59.3%. Part of the sudden spike could be due to the Chinese New Year festivities in February which could have suppressed sales for the month before.
Only 521 units exchanged hands in February.
830 resale private non-landed homes sold last month
830 resale non-landed private homes were sold in March this year, the highest number since last July’s cooling measures.
This recovery is a positive one and injects much cheer into the market despite the sales volume still 41.4% lower than the same month a year ago.
Punggol Fields, HDB. Picture: iProperty
The suburban districts of 5, 15, 18, 19 and 23 had the highest number of resale transactions.
Before last month’s large sales volume, the average number of resale private properties sold monthly fell by half from 1,364 units to 653 units between March and July last year. Analysts are expecting this average sales number to be ‘the norm’ in the months ahead.
Resale private non-landed home prices rose 0.1% last month, an increase for the second consecutive month since February.
Now more than half a year after the last round of property curbs, resale prices are now just 0.6% lower than the peak which occurred just before the measures were implemented.
See more: Private home prices dip slightly in Q1 2019
Resale prices rose 1.3% in the Outside Central Region
Pool, Treasure at Tampines. Condo.
Buying sentiments were particularly high in the Outside Central Region (OCR), with an increase for the third straight month. Prices in the Core Central Region (CCR) however fell 2.1% There were 2 major launches in the OCR last month – Treasure at Tampines and The Florence Residences.
As the average prices for new homes are higher than that of the resale units in the vicinity, these new launches could have boosted the resale price index in the OCR. Analysts are also attributing some of the sales volume to the marketing efforts for these new launches.
There will be a number of new launches in the upcoming months and this may in turn also have had a trickle-down effect on the resale units in the same neighborhoods.
See more: HDB resale market expected to remain resilient
