PRESS RELEASES

For media enquiries, please contact corpcomms@propnex.com.

Mid-end private property market the consumers choice in March

Latest Property Real Estate News - Published on 15/04/2010

March 2010 saw overwhelming sales in the private property residential market, with 1,761 transactions recorded, as released by URA’s figures earlier today. This impressive figure was eclipsed by only two months in 2009, when private property saw a record number of sales.

“The statistics show that investors’ confidence is certainly growing while demand from upgraders is still very strong,” says PropNex CEO Mr Mohamed Ismail, “despite the fact that more units were launched than sold during the month.”
“We can see this increased demand not only from the sheer number of transactions in the month, which is a 47% increase from the number of transactions in February, but also in the shift in the price trends of the transactions.”
Mr Ismail points out that a majority of all the transactions, 71.6% to be exact, were at a median price of $1,000psf or more, a trend which began in October 2009 amidst a recovering economy.
In fact, he notes that properties with median price tags of $1,000psf to $1,999psf alone accounted for 51.8% of all the transactions in March.
“Then there is the fact that properties in the Outside Central Region are also reaching prices of over $1,000psf,” he explains, referring to The Vision at West Coast Crescent, which saw a median price tag of $1,050psf for its 236 units. “This is a breakthrough in the private property mass market. However, this may not be sustainable in the long-term.”
Besides the top-selling The Vision, other hot projects in March 2010 were The Estuary (212 units at a median price of $770psf), 76 Shenton (202 units at a median price of $1,900psf) and The Laurels (115 units at a median price of $2,830psf).
Altogether, these accounted for 43.4% of all the properties transacted, and most of these were above the $1,000psf mark.
Therefore, given his expectation that prices of private residential properties will maintain their buoyancy, Mr Ismail advises prospective buyers to buy now.
“Prices are not expected to fall in the near future,” he says, “although I would caution all prospective buyers to do their research before buying and to buy within their means. They avoid speculative views and purchase any property with a mid to long-term view.”