What Hungry Ghost month? Condo resale prices, volume continue to climb in August

SINGAPORE – Demand for resale non-landed private homes remained robust in August, with prices climbing and more units changing hands despite the Hungry Ghost Festival when sales typically slow down.

Condominium resale prices climbed 0.5 per cent month on month, albeit at a slower pace than the revised 0.9 per cent jump in July, according to flash figures from real estate portal SRX on Tuesday (Sept 14).

Year on year, resale prices were up 7.9 per cent from August 2020.

Month-on-month, homes in the suburbs enjoyed the biggest price increase of 0.9 per cent.

Prices in central Singapore went up by 0.3 per cent while homes in the city fringes saw prices dip 0.2 per cent.

More condo units were sold for the second straight month, with an estimated 1,860 units resold in August, a 4.9 per cent increase from the 1,773 units in July.

Transactions were 40.5 per cent higher than in August last year, and 79.5 per cent above the five-year average volume for the month of August.

Most of the transactions were units in the suburbs, representing 60.4 per cent of total volume for the month.

About 23 per cent of transactions were in the city fringes, with the remaining 16.5 per cent in the prime districts or core central region.

Ms Christine Sun, senior vice-president of research and analytics at real estate firm OrangeTee & Tie, said sales remain buoyant in August as demand is outstripping supply in the suburban region.

“Many upgraders, especially those who have sold their flats recently, turned to the secondary market to find replacement homes,” she said.

Demand for larger living space has also picked up as more are working from home, so some are going for larger units in the resale market as these are more affordable than new units, she added.

ERA Singapore head of research and consultancy Nicholas Mak noted that the strong demand and rising prices of Housing Board resale flats and the multiple delays plaguing Build-To-Order (BTO) flats likely also contributed to the healthy demand in the private resale market which provided more certainty.

Huttons Asia chief executive Mark Yip made similar observations, noting that buyers who cashed out of their HDB flats likely upgraded to a more affordable option in the private resale market.

The highest transacted price for a resale condo unit last month was $21.4 million at Eden Residences Capitol, a 99-year leasehold condo in Stamford Road.

The unit is a 6,609 sq ft penthouse unit with five bedrooms, with the flexibility to convert a room to a study.

In the city fringes, the highest transacted price was $8.2 million for a 99-year leasehold unit at Reflections at Keppel Bay in HarbourFront.

In suburban areas, a seven-bedroom penthouse in the 99-year leasehold condo A Treasure Trove in Punggol sold for $3.7 million.

Barring new cooling measures and further Covid-19 curbs, OrangeTee’s Ms Sun expects demand for resale private homes to continue to rise in the coming months.

“Based on the SRX resale price index, prices have increased 6.4 per cent year-to-date. Resale prices may increase by more than 8 per cent this year,” said Ms Sun.