Beyond Mainstream

The Singapore Property Market – A Trending Topic in 2018

On 4 Jan2018, the Straits Times published this article – Property Market Finally on the Upturn  – on both their print edition and website. On 18 January, City Developments Limited’s latest condominium project at district 9, New Futura  saw 18 of its 25 units released on opening day, snapped up by eager buyer at an average selling price of $3,200 per square feet (psf).

Singapore property outlook for 2018

Property has often been a major talking point in land scarce Singapore. In the past, we have seen queues forming up days before a popular condominium project is launched and bullish opening day sales of condo projects making the headlines of our local newspapers. Foreign developments too were also making their way to our shores, wooing Singaporean buyers. 

Much of such news disappeared around third quarter 2013, after a series of cooling measures led to a decline of prices which continued until the latter half of 2017. During this period, it was common practice for Singapore developers to head to neighbouring countries like Indonesian and Malaysia to market their high-end launches.

Is New Futura’s Success One Off?

Perhaps not. Renewed interest in the Singapore Property Market could have started brewing is as early as July 2016, when Lake Grande, a project in Jurong, saw 436 of the 500 units initially released sold on launch weekend. Then analyst cautioned that the heathy take up could be due to Government plans to develop the area as a 2nd Central Business District which will include the future high speed rail system connecting Singapore and KL. Treasure Cove, an EC project launched a week earlier was also very successful, with almost 72% of units snapped up during the weekend.

Then in Feb 2017, about 10,000 people thronged the showflat of Grandeur Park Residences, a condo near the Tanah Merah MRT Station. 3 project launches, thereafter, from February till April 2017, namely Clementi Canopy, Park Place Residences and Seaside Residences likewise experienced rather healthy sales. In April 2017 the Straits Times reported CDL shares surging on news of healthy sales at Gramercy Park. Then 70 of the 87 phase 1 units (North Tower) were already sold, including all 2-bedder plus study units. A further 11 of the 20 units released in phase 2 were also sold, hinting, perhaps, of the possible recovery of the high-end segment of the Singapore property market as well. What’s common among these launches where that the smaller 1 and 2 bedroom units are usually among the first to go.

In all, 14,707 units were sold by developers in 2017. This represents a 23% increase over the previous year and the highest number of units sold since 2014.

Is 2018 Going to Be Bullish?

From all that we have seen thus far, 2018 seemed to have started off optimistically as well, with New Futura showing the way. While one can argue that CDL’s latest high end condo project is merely riding on the momentum built up in 2017, what’s interesting about New Futura is that unlike previous property launches, it’s the 4 bedroom and 3 bedroom units that moved first during launch weekend, as noted by this informative New Futura Condo website.

Will this bullish trend continue through this year? Only time will tell. What’s for certain though is that we will be watching closely the sales performance of the upcoming launches like The Tapestry and Rivercove Residences (an EC). Visitors.sg is after all a leading visitor guide in Singapore and if the property marketing is indeed going to be a trending topic for 2018, we want to be around to cover it. 

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