Category Archives: Property Market / Real Estate

Real estate sentiment improves in Q1

Posted on 16 May 2012 | Comments Off on Real estate sentiment improves in Q1

After dropping for four straight quarters, the REDAS-NUS Real Estate Sentiment Index (composite) for Singapore’s real estate market climbed in the first quarter of 2012 to reach 4.6, driven by strong demand of several mass market private condo launches.

The scale for the index used in the survey ranges between 0 and 10, with a score of less than five indicating falling market conditions while more than five shows an improving market.

The Current Sentiment Index climbed to 4.8 in the first quarter from 3.5 in the fourth quarter of last year. For this index, the survey asked respondents to rate Singapore’s current property market conditions compared with six months ago.

Meanwhile, the Future Sentiment Index, which pertains to respondents’ rating on property market conditions over the next six months, rose to 4.4 percent in Q1 compared with 3.1 percent in the preceding quarter.

Nearly 77 percent of the developers polled said they expect more residential launches, up from 54 percent in the previous quarter. Nearly 76 percent of them also expect the current level of interest to remain for the Government Land Sales (GLS) Programme, more than twice the 36 percent recorded in the previous quarter.

On the issue of aggressive bidding in land tenders, nearly 68 percent of respondents agreed that simultaneous site launches could moderate the level of bidding. Several analysts said this is already being practiced by the government.

“Tenders should close on the same day, rather than launched on the same day with different closing dates, to reduce competition for sites and aggressive bidding,” said those surveyed.

Overall, respondents were cautiously optimistic about the performance of Singapore’s property market, returning better net balances in current and future performance scores compared with the previous quarter.

“The survey showed a rebound in the overall sentiment but the improvement was not across the board,” said Lee Suan Hiang, Chief Executive of REDAS.

“While the hotel/service apartment sector was a strong performer, the office sector showed weaker sentiment. In the residential sector while the market expressed confidence in the suburban sector, the lack of vitality in the prime residential sector was accentuated with dampened sentiments, protracted over the last three quarters.”

Source : PropertyGuru – 16 May 2012

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What triggered the record high home sales in April?

Posted on 16 May 2012 | Comments Off on What triggered the record high home sales in April?

Various factors caused April’s private home sales, excluding executive condos (ECs), to peak at 2,487 units. This is the highest figure since the sales volume peaked at 2,772 units in July 2009.

“Not only did demand chase supply, it in fact exceeded it because new homes launched for the month only numbered 2,386 units,” said Alan Cheong, Head of Research at Savills, adding that the uptrend could indicate a stronger market.

Mohamed Ismail, CEO of PropNex Realty, said: “It is clearly the HDB upgraders who are entering the private property market; these are genuine buyers with mid- to long-term perspectives sustaining the market in the first quarter of 2012.”

He added that buying trends have not been affected by the recent cooling measures, although the policies have created short-term speculation in the private property resale market.

“The low bank borrowing interest rates and HDB upgraders’ interest had contributed and certainly helped boost the April sales figure,” noted Ismail.

Chia Siew Chuin, Director of Research & Advisory at Colliers, observed that developers had shifted their focus to previously launched developments last month while delaying new launches to May, which could be attributed to the upcoming amendments in the Housing Developers Rules.

Following the four consecutive months that the market has shown improved performance, JLL has revised its previous forecast for this year from 18,000 to 20,000 units, “provided no further policy measures are introduced”.

Ismail expects this month’s sales figures to be around 2,500 to 3,000 units as developers have prepared a slew of new launches including ECs.

However, JLL cautioned that “the risk of further policy intervention to maintain more stable market demand cannot be ruled out. We hold our earlier position that the policy to curtail excessive demand of developers’ sales could come into the market within the next few weeks”.

Colliers added that with no external risks and further policies, “strong demand driven by abundant oncoming supply of private residential homes is likely to drive overall take-up for new private homes in 2012 to beyond 16,800 units, toppling 2010’s record high of 16,292 units”.

Source : PropertyGuru 16 May 2012

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