SINGAPORE, Aug 17 — Singapore home sales rose in July to the highest in two years, driven by new projects.
Developers sold 1,594 units last month compared with 375 units in June, according to data released today by the Urban Redevelopment Authority. That’s the highest since June 2013, the data showed.
Fernvale Development Pte’s High Park Residences accounted for most of the sales as the developer sold 1,169 of 1,186 units offered, according to data from the authority.
The project attracted buyers because the units are smaller, making them more affordable, said Nicholas Mak, an executive director at SLP International Property Consultants in Singapore. Apartments started as low as S$400,000 (RM1.165 million), he said.
The government began introducing residential curbs in 2009 as low interest rates and demand from foreign buyers raised concerns that the property market was overheating. Singapore is closely watching the domestic housing market that’s in a correction phase amid the longest decline in 13 years, Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam said at an Economic Society of Singapore event last week.
Home sales dropped to a six-year low last year as the policies hurt demand.
Singapore’s property market won’t recover quickly because home supply and vacancies will rise, Augustine Tan, president of the Real Estate Developers’ Association of Singapore, said last month. Home vacancy rates will climb to a record, while an oversupply won’t abate in the short term, Tan said.
Prices dropped for a seventh consecutive quarter in the three months to the end of June, the longest losing streak in 13 years, after surging 40 per cent to a record in the five years to 2013.
The government’s curbs have included a cap on debt repayment costs at 60 per cent of a borrower’s monthly income, higher stamp duties on home purchases and an increase in real estate taxes. — Bloomberg
