Tuesday, September 16, 2008

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Singapore Private Property Sales Down 81% in Aug 2008

Private home sales in Singapore dropped 81% in August from a year ago, to the lowest level since March 2008. Sales of new residential projects, comprising both houses and apartments, fell to 320 units from 1723 units sold in August last year, and sales were also down 64% from the 901 units taken up in July 2008, according URA data.

Most property consultants attributed the decline to August being the chinese Hungry Ghost month. However, such argument does not seem to be true during the property booms in the few past years when Singaporeans continued their buying sprees even during the Ghost month. "We can blame the ghosts partly, but I think it's more that all this bad news about global banks is creating a real sense of anxiety among homebuyers," said Colin Tan, Singapore-based head of research for property consultancy Chesterton International. Mr Tan felt that the private property market is basically dead. 'Sales cannot be zero, but at 320 homes sold I would describe the market as dead, there's no two ways about it,' he said.

Worries over Singapore's economic outlook have ended a four-year housing boom in the city-state, as price growth for private homes slowed sharply in the April-June period, rising just 0.2 percent in the quarter. Singapore manufacturing sector has already shown sign of being hit by the global crisis.

Analysts have dropped share price targets for developers such as CapitaLand, Keppel Land and City Developments amid the increasingly gloomy outlook of the Singapore private property market.

May also want to read:

HDB Upgraders trapped in "Buy High, Sell Low" in the boom-bust of the 90s
History of Singapore Property 1960 to 2008
Property Price Index Graph Plotter & Online Property Valuation
Your Property Investment Determines Your Financial Success in Your Life

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Smartbuyer,

Care to share what are the factors to look for in buying an investment property? I.e. what makes a good investment property...?

Thanks and cheers!

Anonymous said...

Dear Phantasia,
Nice to hear from you again. That's very good question you've asked. Allow me some time to organise my thoughts and I'll have a blog-post on that topic, in the very near future I hope :)

Hope all is well with you?

Anonymous said...

Hi Smartbuyer,

Do you think the property market here will ever go down to S$400 or lower psf again?

Thank you,
Newbie

Anonymous said...

Yeah, all is well and good..i've just picked up an EC in D25, mainly for staying.

Am in the midst of learning more about property investment so that I can save up money over the next 2-3 yrs and perhaps pick up one unit for investment. :)

One query comes to mind regarding property prices...assuming locational factors are already priced into the unit, i.e. a good location unit is selling at higher price, while a less desired location is selling at lower prices. Affordability issues aside, does it matter which of the 2 i choose? Is it ultimately down to personal preference or can i expect the price of a better located unit to increase at a faster rate than the less desirable unit.

Cheers!

Anonymous said...

Dear Phantasia,
You've heard of the saying "Property is all about location, location, location"? Of course then, properties in obviously good locations have already got their locations priced in. The best bet of course are properties which are not in obviously good locations, which come mostly from the government decision to develop them. So you've got to have vision :)

Anonymous said...

Dear Newbie,
You asked, "Do you think the property market here will ever go down to S$400 or lower psf again?" I supposed you meant private property (as most HDB flats are below $400 psf). Well, they have, i.e, before the property bull-run in 2007. Will the bear bring the price down to that level again? Possibly, for some off-location old 99-LH properties.

When you grow from a newbie to an oldie like me, you'd see that the property market is cyclcical :)

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The blogger here has been affectionately named by close allies as "Smart Buyer" but really, he's not smart. Smart Buyer just believes that being prudent is smart. That's the essence of the message of this blog and Smart Buyer hopes it'll benefit other property buyers.

Smart Buyer :)