SINGAPORE — Resale prices of condominiums and private apartments continued to rise to a new peak last month, preliminary estimates from SRX Property showed on Tuesday (April 10).

Prices increased across the island, led by the central core region (2.2 per cent) with a more moderate spike (1.3 per cent) registered in the other areas.

Overall, non-landed private residential resale prices rose by 1.5 per cent in March, compared to the previous month which had already seen price levels reach a record high. Year-on-year, prices last month went up by 8.5 per cent.

The resale volume increased by 11.4 per cent, with an estimated 1,310 units resold last month, up from 1,176 units in February. Nevertheless, this was lower than the record 2,050 units resold in April 2010.

Advertisement

Analysts expect resale prices to continue to hed north in the coming months.

Ms Christine Sun, OrangeTee & Tie head of research and consultancy. noted the double whammy of “sellers holding back and asking for higher prices while demand escalates as more enbloc sellers look for replacement homes”.

She said: “Some enbloc sellers are already purchasing a new home… before the completion of the enbloc sales as they expect replacement cost to increase significantly in the months ahead.”

Director of property firm Chris International, Chris Koh, said there are mainly three groups of people driving the strength of the resale market.

“One group is those who have had their enbloc deals completed and need a place to stay," Mr Koh said. "These people are likely to look for a resale home, and because they are flushed with extra cash, they don’t mind paying a little more for a property they prefer.

“There is also a bunch of buyers who have been waiting on the sidelines for the last four years for prices to come down, but seeing as prices are inching up they might have sensed that the market has bottomed out and so they have decided to come back.”

He added: “Then there are also those who have the herd instinct, seeing property prices coming up they are rushing in to buy to make money.”

Mr Koh believes the resale prices will remain healthy and continue to rise for the rest of the year.

"There will still be people who are displaced as a result of enbloc deals," he explained. "Some will rent, but you will get at least 80 per cent of them coming them into the market looking for flats."

According to the SRX flash estimates, the overall median Transaction-Over-X-Value (TOX) — an indicative measure of how much a buyer is underpaying or overpaying for a unit — stood unchanged at S$20,000.

The median TOX was zero or positive in all districts with at least 10 transactions. Districts 10 (Tanglin, Holland and Bukit Timah areas) and 11 (Watten Estate, Novena and Thomson areas) posted the highest median TOX of S$60,000.