New Home Sales in May Rebound Despite Showflat Closures

New private home sales rebound in May despite virus curbs.

75% rise comes even as show-flats were shut, in-person viewing of property was prohibited.

New private home sales rebounded last month from April, even as Singapore was in the second month of its Covid-19 circuit breaker.

Developers in Singapore sold 484 new private homes last month, going by sale caveats, Knight Frank Singapore said yesterday. This is 74.7 per cent more than the 277 new private homes they sold in April.

A total of 967 caveats for private homes were lodged during the circuit breaker from April 7 to June 1, said Knight Frank. Of these, 577 were new sales, while 380 were resale transactions and the remaining 10 were sub-sales. It is also noted that Q1 2020 posted the highest quarterly resale volume in eight years.

This comes even as show-flats were closed and in-person property viewing was curbed during the circuit breaker as strict safe distancing measures were in place.

Mr Leonard Tay, head of research at Knight Frank Singapore, said: "The sales volume of new homes dominated private residential transactions in May. Despite the restrictions on physical interaction, there is life yet for the real estate market."

He said new home buyers have shown "a degree of adjustment and adaptation to the prevailing circumstances" amid the pandemic.

"It could be that many of these new home buyers who sealed the deal in May had already been to the show-flats prior to the circuit breaker, and weeks thereafter of staying at home helped in some measure towards a decision-making purchase," he said.

The URA is due to release its data on sales and launches of new private homes and executive condominiums next week.

As the upcoming unlaunched developments prepare their launch in Q3 and Q4, how will new home sales prices and volumes be affect their launch prices? The Ryse Residences launch date is expected to be in Q4 2020.