Owner listings outperform mortgage listings in Singapore for tenth consecutive quarter

Owner listings grew 22.8% to 70 in Q3 2023.

In Q3 2023, there were 70 owner listings in Singapore’s auction market, a 22.8% q-o-q rise from the 57 in Q2 2023, but a 20.5% y-o-y decrease from the 88 in Q3 2022. 

According to Knight Frank, this is the tenth consecutive quarter when owner sale listings surpassed mortgagee sale listings (29), with the exception of Q1 2022. 

Here’s more from Knight Frank:

However, compared to mortgagee sale listings, only one property among the owner listings was sold in Q3. Despite the substantially lower success rate at auction, the higher proportion of owner to mortgagee sale listings suggests that owners are increasingly cognisant that the auction platform can focus wider public interest and the attention of buyers on the search for property. Many of the properties found on owner listings were sold outside of the auction process in private treaty deals after buyers had taken note of the opportunity. 

The sole owner listing sold was a 60-year leasehold B2 landed factory located along Kaki Bukit Place. The industrial property was sold at S$5.0 million, some 3.8% below an opening price of S$5.2 million. 

There were 25 residential and 24 retail owner listings in Q3, up from the 24 and 21 respectively in Q2. Office owner listings remained unchanged at five listings, with industrial listings recording the highest jump of 16 listings compared to the seven in the previous quarter. The stark jump in industrial owner listings suggest that the stressed economy compelled some industrial end-users to mitigate operational cashflows by offloading assets. 

Even though rentals in malls are generally increasing, more strata-retail and ancillary retail spaces located in suburban locations are also gradually showing up in owner sale listings, with challenges in sustaining a consistent retail trading environment, especially in buildings that are not in the main thoroughfares along transport nodes, with access to a steady stream of pedestrians/shoppers. With the retail sector beset by inflation and escalating business costs, retailers might opt to list shops for sale so as to cut their losses and pivot to other alternatives.