What ghost month? Singapore new home sales up 16.3% to 1,256 units in August

Sales from the Rest of Central Region and Outside Central Region continued to dominate this month.

Since the opening of showflats from 19 June onwards, Knight Frank notes new sales volume in the private residential market has been steadily increasing each month fuelled by pent-up demand. From 998 units (excluding Executive Condominiums (ECs)) in June, to 1,080 units in July, new homes sales in August totalled 1,256 units, an increase of 16.3% from July and 353.4% from the 277 developer sales in April, which accounted for the lowest monthly volume in 2020 due to the start of the circuit breaker (CB). New home sales in August 2020 was also 11.8% higher than the 1,123 monthly sales in August 2019, and just shy of the highest monthly volume last year comprising 1,270 units in September 2019.

Leonard Tay, Head, Research, Knight Frank Singapore, says the Hungry Ghost month did nothing to halt the gaining momentum from “needs-based” purchasers who sold their properties and are now in need of a new home and those getting married. Other buyers whose jobs are not at risk and have substantial savings, could have also purchased a new home for fear of missing out. HDB homeowners who have recently completed their five-year Minimum Occupation Period (MOP) in BTO Flats, could have sold their units and used the gains to upgrade to new condominiums.

Here’s more from Knight Frank:

Sales from the Rest of Central Region (RCR) and Outside Central Region (OCR) continued to dominate in August with 622 sales and 506 sales respectively, as both new and previously launched projects posted brisk sales. New sales were bolstered by the newly launched project Forett At Bukit Timah in the RCR. One of the first large-scale developments to be launched after the lifting of the CB measures, the 633-unit freehold development in District 21 was the top selling project with 213 units or 34% of the project snapped up during August, attesting to the pent-up demand still evident in the market.

Sales have also picked up in earlier launches like The Garden Residences in the OCR and The Woodleigh Residences in the RCR, both of which overtook Jadescape to be among the top five best-selling projects in August. The freehold development Noma, which launched at end-August in the RCR, moved 34 units this month at a median price of S$1,639 psf.

Even with buyers’ attention turned towards the RCR and OCR, developer sales in the CCR saw its third consecutive month of uptick. New launches in the CCR included the boutique project Mooi Residences (July 27), which sold its first three units at a median price of S$2,566 all to Singaporean buyers.

There were 1,582 units launched in August, almost twice the 869 units launched in July, and more developers will gear up to launch their projects in the remaining months of 2020. Even though new sales volume in the private residential market has been strong in the few months after the circuit breaker, sales momentum for the rest of 2020 might stabilise in the remaining months of 2020. Year 2020 could now end with about 7,000 to 8,000 new home sales in the private market. This is higher than Knight Frank’s previous estimated projection of 6,000 to 7,000 new sales made during the circuit breaker.