The period near the Chinese New Year is known to be slower when it comes to investments in the real estate market. However, after this celebration is over, homebuyers start hovering around properties and making purchases, in many instances exceeding the expectations of both developers and real estate specialists. Thus, the month of March appears to be the most fruitful month in terms of property transactions, for the fourth year. More than this, this year’s March exceeded all expectations, recording the highest number of properties sold since 2017.
More precisely, March enjoyed double the number of units sold during the month of February, which means a total of 1.296 units. The last significant take-up during March happened back in 2017, so this year something happened that made homebuyers be more active than in any month of March in the past 4 years. However, the most amazing aspect is that high-end units were highly appreciated this year. Maybe what happened during the pandemic, with the lockdown and people needing to spend more time at home, made comfort and quality priorities when looking for a new home. Thus, in March of 2021, almost half of the units sold represented high-end units, located in the top districts of Singapore.
According to Mr. Lee Sze Teck, who is Hutton Asia’s director of research, this behavior represents the desire of people to invest their finances into something stable, such as a property. This way, the money doesn’t get lost and it secures the future of the owner in the long term. During the first quarter of this year, 3.574 new private units got owners. Only the second quarter of 2013 recorded a higher volume of transactions, with 4.538 units sold.
If you’re wondering which new launch condo projects managed to get the attention of most homebuyers, we can easily list the top preferences. The most sought-after was Midtown Modern, followed by Treasures at Tampines, Amber Park, RV Altitude, Normanton Park, and Ki Residences at Brookvale. As well, 546 units, or 42% of the total sales recorded in March, were units located in the core central region. This shows the clear desire of homeowners to have everything needed for a comfortable life in reach. The city fringe area was next on the list of preferences, occupying 29.9% of total sales, and, finally, the suburbs, with a percentage of 27.9.
82% of the purchases were made by Singaporeans this March, followed by people with permanent residence in Singapore and foreign buyers, which reached a total of 4.3% only. But, even so, it is possible to notice an increase in the units purchased by foreigners, compared to the month of February. Thus, if in February only 33 units were bought by foreigners, in March their number reached 55. So, we can expect to see a steady rise in this sector, due to the wider availability of the vaccine and vaccination programs unrolled by countries all over the world.
More information are available at the webpage below
https://www.straitstimes.com/business/property/new-private-home-sales-in-spore-hit-4-year-high-for-march-as-buyers-flocked-to
