Private home sales fall

There has been a big drop in the number of private homes sold in Singapore. Developers sold only 480 new units last month, 35 per cent down from 739 in February, figures from the Urban Redevelopment Authority showed on April 15. This was also almost 83 per cent down from the number of units sold in the same month a year ago.

The drop in sales came despite more homes being offered for sale in March than in February. Buyers are staying on the sidelines as the market softens, The Straits Times reported.

The top seller last month was The Santorini in Tampines, which sold just 76 of its 597 units. Next was the 862-unit Eight Riversuites in Whampoa East. This development sold 44 units at a median price of $1,109 psf.

The suburbs accounted for the bulk of new sales last month, at 62 per cent. The city fringe accounted for 26 per cent and only 54 units were sold in the city centre.

Interestingly, it was reported last week that the sales of non-landed private resale homes had gone up in March. There were 451 resale transactions of non-landed private homes last month, almost 83 per cent more than in February. This was the highest resale volume since October last year, but was still 22.5 per cent lower than the 582 units resold in March last year, the Singapore Real Estate Exchange had said.

Prices also inched up 0.2 per cent last month after falling 3.1 per cent in February.

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