Tag Archives: Singapore Property

October home sales slow down

Posted on 31 Oct 2009 | Comments Off on October home sales slow down

OCTOBER appears to have been a much quieter month in the private property market than recent months.

Just over 350 private homes were sold in the first nine days of the month – the only solid figures available so far.

Property consultants say the pace of buying did not appear to have picked up for the rest of the month. They say the market seems to be pausing for breath as buyers resist higher prices.

Savills Singapore said caveats lodged from Oct 1 to 9 – the only available October caveats – show 355 residential units were sold, including just 40 units of new homes and 52 sub-sale units.

In comparison, 787 units were sold in the first nine days of September, including 276 new homes and 102 sub-sale units, it said.

In the first nine months of this year, new private home sales hit a recession-defying 12,828 units, resales touched 10,185 units, while sub-sales totalled 2,780 units. Continue reading →

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Posted in Property Market / Real Estate

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Flat valuation reflects state of property market

Posted on 30 Oct 2009 | Comments Off on Flat valuation reflects state of property market

I REFER to Mr Daniel Choy’s letter on Tuesday, ‘Curbing price hikes’.

His assertion that valuation chases after cash over valuation (COV) is incorrect. Rather the valuation process reflects the state of the property market. If there are sufficient buyers who are prepared to pay a higher price than valuation, this should result in a higher valuation.

As Mr Choy rightly pointed out, ‘buyers are generally prepared to fork out between $50,000 and $100,000 for a good location’. This would be an indication of the market demand for properties in good locations, which will result in a higher valuation of such properties.

His suggestion to base ‘a typical flat’s valuation on the average price for the whole of Singapore’ is not valuation, but rather an administrative decision or policy which will be difficult to implement as it would mean that ‘better properties’ would be sold at a lower price and ‘poorer properties’ at a higher one.

In valuation, we need to consider unique characteristics such as location, size, age and condition of the property concerned, and not based on the average prices of all properties.

Janet Han (Ms)
Secretariat
Singapore Institute of Surveyors and Valuers

Source : Straits Times – 30 Oct 2009

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Posted in HDB

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