SINGAPORE: Sales of new private homes rose 75 per cent last month despite the circuit breaker period, a surprise to many analysts who expected the property market to remain muted after the sharp plunge in April.
Data released by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) on Monday (Jun 15) showed that developers sold 486 units - excluding executive condominiums (EC) - last month, compared with 277 units in April.
AdvertisementAdvertisementIncluding ECs, 509 units were sold in May, which is a 73.7 per cent increase from April.
On a year-on-year basis, developers’ sales, excluding ECs, declined 48.9 per cent from the 952 units transacted in May 2019.
[h=3]READ: Virtual tours and opportunities: The Singapore property market during COVID-19[/h][h=3]READ: Singapore new private home sales plunge 58% in April amid COVID-19 circuit breaker[/h] AdvertisementAdvertisementSALES DRIVEN BY SURBURBAN CONDOS; NO PHYSICAL VIEWINGS
In total, developers released 615 private homes in May, down 3.9 per cent from April and 55.9 per cent from May last year. There were no new project launches, and most of the new units released were from developments in the Outside Central Region (OCR).
Sales were also driven by demand for surburban projects. In May, 256 units were sold in the Outside Central Region (OCR), followed by 189 homes in the Rest of Central Region (RCR) and 41 units in the Core Central Region (CCR).
The most popular private development in May was Treasure at Tampines with 56 units sold, followed by Parc Clematis at Jalan Lempeng and The Florence Residences in Hougang with 55 and 54 units sold, respectively.
[h=3]READ: COVID-19: For some businesses, enhanced online browsing to drive sales could become a new norm[/h]Singapore implemented a circuit breaker period on Apr 7 to contain the spread of COVID-19, allowing only essential services such as healthcare, transport, logistics and food and beverage to continue operations.
During that period, showroom viewings - a core marketing activity for property development - were halted and potential buyers had to view the units virtually.
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