Weekend sales for August 12-13 witnessed a decline to a record low, with only 52 units sold across three projects.
Each of these projects entails the transformation of en bloc sites situated in varying submarkets: the 78-unit Orchard Sophia within the Core Central Region (CCR), the 324-unit TMW Maxwell in the Rest of Central Region (RCR), and the 105-unit The Arden located in the Outside Central Region (OCR).
Reason for 52 units sold across three projects
Sales have shown a quieter performance in comparison to recent launches in terms of the quantity of units sold and this could be attributed to the fact that there were nine new launches from July up to now, providing buyers with an expanded array of choices. In fact, since April, six Rest of Central Region projects have been launched, with another three in the Outside Central Region. There is also a Altura, an executive condo that did pretty well at its launch too.
With an extensive array of projects available in the market, prospective homebuyers and investors are presented with a plethora of options to choose from. Preceding five recent projects launched in August, July was already busy with four major launches totaling 2,500 units. July’s surplus supply affected this month’s new launches. Amidst numerous options in the market, homebuyers and investors enjoy choice, a lot of choices !
In such an environment, a condo buyer will do well to read my article on “5 Helpful Considerations For Buying A Condo In Singapore“.
The increase in additional buyer’s stamp duty (ABSD) in April, applicable to all except Singaporean and Permanent Resident (PR) first-time homebuyers, along with the current heightened interest rates, has led to a more circumspect approach among buyers.
The 52 Units Sold Over the Weekend over Three Projects
Over the weekend, Qingjian Realty, the developer, successfully sold 27 units (26%) out of the 105 available at The Arden on Phoenix Road, adjacent to Choa Chu Kang Road. The units were sold at an average price of $1,750 per square foot.
Meanwhile, DB2, the developer of Orchard Sophia, accomplished the sale of 18 units (23%) from the 78 available units, achieving an average price of $2,800 per square foot.
Lastly, TMW Maxwell saw the sale of seven units at prices ranging from $1.5 million to $2.47 million, corresponding to $3,143 to $3,739 per square foot. Notably, the developer only introduced 80 units in the initial phase of the launch for TMW Maxwell, signifying a 9% take-up rate based on units launched or 2.2% considering the total project size of 324 units.
In 2022, developers launched 15 new residential projects with 4,528 units. Sales reached 7,099 units. This year, 17 non-landed projects debuted with 6,300 to 6,500 units. With about another 10–13 more launches this year, developer sales might reach around 8,000 units, surpassing 2022’s 7,099 units.
We will see how the market progresses from here.
