Private residential units sold by developers in January 2019

Healthy sales as launches resume

January is generally a slow month for the private residential market as it is just after the December holiday period and before the Lunar New Year festivities which is usually in February. Developers sold 433 private homes in the first month of 2019, 28.1 per cent less than in December 2018 and 17.8 per cent lower y-o-y.

498 new private homes were launched in January, nearly five times more than the 101 units placed on the market in December 2018 and about twice that launched in January last year.

Three new projects were launched in January 2019

Top selling projects in January 2019

Source: URA

Mr Ong Teck Hui, Senior Director of Research & Consultancy at JLL, commented: “In terms of developer sales, January is usually a slow month for most years as it falls between the year-end holidays in December and the Lunar New Year festivities in February. A detailed analysis of the primary market activity in January 2019 indicates a stable market in spite of the effects of the July 2018 cooling measures. The 433 new private homes sold during that month is fair performance when compared to the 324 to 527 units sold in January each year between 2015 and 2018. Three new projects were launched in January 2019 which is healthy compared to between one and three new launches recorded in the months of January from 2015 to 2018. The fact that three prime district projects were launched in January reflects confidence on the part of their developers in launching units in the upper price segment where the pool of buyers is more limited. The stable market in January could be a prelude to healthy launches and sales in the coming months.

Strong sales were achieved at Affinity at Serangoon in January following the announcement of the first phase of the Cross Island Line as the project would be within a short walk to the future Serangoon North MRT station. This shows that in spite of the challenging market due to the cooling measures, projects having strong attributes, such as proximity to an MRT station, can still attract buyers, provided pricing is realistic. For example, Parc Esta which is near Eunos MRT station sold 32 units in January while Stirling Residences, which is in the vicinity of Queenstown MRT station found buyers for 22 units.”

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