A view of blocks of private residential condominiums (L) and executive condominiums

SINGAPORE — Developers sold 377 private homes, excluding executive condominiums (ECs), last month, falling 28 per cent from the 524 units sold in January.

Year-on-year, sales declined 61.5 per cent from the 979 units sold in February last year, based on data from the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) released on Thursday (Mar 15). Including ECs, 469 private homes changed hands last month, compared to 1,308 units a year ago.

Analysts attributed the slump to the traditional Chinese New Year lull, with the festivities taking place in February this year.

Nevertheless, PropNex Realty CEO Ismail Gafoor said the number of units sold last month was “commendable”, given that only 186 private homes were launched during the month.

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Ms Tricia Song, head of research for Singapore at Colliers International, noted that the weaker take-up was largely due to the lack of major launches as developers held back new projects during Chinese New Year amid depleting inventory.

Two new private residential projects were launched last month — Nim Collection and Parksuites. Nim Collection is a 98-unit landed project located at Nim Rise and Nim Terrace, developed by Bukit Sembawang Estates. Parksuites is a 119-unit apartment project by Far East Organization located at Holland Grove Road.

Nim Collection launched 26 units and sold three units at median price of S$1,661 per square foot (psf), while Parksuites put up 50 units for sale and transacted three units at a median price of S$2,215 psf.

According to the analysts, the best-selling private residential projects last month were Queens Peak which moved 47 units at a median price of S$1,730 psf, Kingsford Waterbay which sold 34 units at a median price of S$1,349 psf, and Artra which transacted 30 units at a median price of S$1,726 psf.

Going forward, sales are expected to pick up, as new projected are launched, the analysts said.

The first quarter of 2018 will likely see the launches of The Tapestry at Tampines Avenue 10, The Enclave @ Holland and Rivercove Residences EC located along Anchorvale Lane.

Both Mr Ismail and ZACD Group executive director Nicholas Mak expect strong demand for the 628-unit Rivercove Residences in April, since it is the only EC project to be launched this year. Mr Mak said: “If priced reasonably, the take-up rate of this project is expected to be very high, possibly exceeding 90 per cent within the first 60 days after the launch.”

Earlier this month, the URA announced that an EC site at Sumang Walk was awarded to CDL Constellation and TID Residential for S$509.4 million, which works out to S$583 psf per plot ratio — a record land price for EC projects.

Referring to the Sumang Walk tender, Mr Ismail said buyers will be looking to snap up EC units on the market, before prices go up. Ms Song noted that the record bid translates to a breakeven price of S$950 psf, which is higher than the transacted prices for all new ECs. This points to “sharply higher EC prices two years down the road”, she said.

For the whole of 2018, Ms Song said developer sales are forecast to rise by 19 per cent year-on-year to 12,600 units, excluding ECs. The projected rise is due to more project launches from government land sales and collective sales, she added.