CNA : Singapore's private property market shows 5th straight month of decline

Singapore's private property market shows 5th straight month of decline
By Mok Fei Fei, 938 LIVE | Posted: 15 January 2010 1428 hrs

SINGAPORE: Singapore's private property market is continuing to show signs of declining interest.

Data released Friday from the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) showed that just 481 units were sold in December, the fifth straight month of decrease.

The figure is a 20 per cent drop, compared to the previous month's sale of 600 units.

It is also the second lowest number of monthly sales in 2009, after January's low, which saw only 107 uncompleted homes sold.

However, last month's figure was still better than the 131 units sold over the same period a year ago.

Despite a seemingly fast-cooling property market, property developers still pushed out 734 launches in December, edging just sligtly down from the 923 units unveiled in November.

The fall in sales come in the wake of government measures implemented in September to prevent a property asset bubble in Singapore.

Such measures include the removal of the Interest Absorption Scheme and Interest-Only Housing Loans.

As was the trend in previous months, higher-end projects were more popular.

The Shore Residences at Amber Road, which has a median price of S$1,144 per square foot, saw the most number of units sold at 79.

Coming in close behind is Urban Suites at Hullet Road, which sold all 59 units launched for sale last month at a median price of S$2,521 per square foot.

The most expensive unit sold last month was at Nassim Park Residences, a development at Nassim Road, which went for S$3,477 per square foot.