Tag Archives: New Home Sales

Analysts expect sales to remain low for rest of this year

The number of new private homes sold in August 2009 fell sharply to 1,699 as pent-up demand eased and developers raised the prices of some newly launched projects.

The slowdown, which was largely expected, came on the back of a record month – 2,772 new homes were sold in July, the highest figure since the authorities started releasing monthly numbers in mid-2007.

The falling sales, combined with Government measures to cool the private residential property market announced on Monday, means that analysts are now expecting substantially lower monthly sales for the rest of the year.

Citing signs of increased speculative activity and a ‘significant’ rise in private home prices since June 2009, the Government two days ago unveiled a slew of measures including disallowing the interest absorption scheme (IAS) – which helped revive home sales earlier this year after the global financial crash – and the similar interest-only housing loans. The Confirmed List land sales will also be reintroduced from the first half of next year.

‘As the new measures are likely to affect market sentiment in the immediate future, the residential sales momentum is likely to moderate in the fourth quarter and further price increases will be checked,’ said Li Hiaw Ho, executive director of CBRE Research. Continue reading →