In May, developers sold 1,065 private homes (excluding ECs), or about 40 per cent increase from the previous month. Also, 1,345 new private homes were launched for sale last month, an increase of almost 50 per cent from April. May’s sale volume indicates that the market is highly launch driven and underlying demand is present if prices are attractive.

“The 2 new projects; GEM Residences and Stars of Kovan helped to push numbers up. They contributed the lion’s share (or 36 per cent) of all new launches in the month and certainly helped to prop up the sales volume in May”, explained PropNex CEO Mr Ismail Gafoor.

RCR most active due largely to GEM Residences

Rest of Central Region (RCR) accounted for the bulk of private home sales in May with 582 units sold (or 55 per cent) with the balance coming from Outside Central Region – which sold 423 units (OCR) (or 39 per cent) and Core Central Region which sold 60 units (CCR) (or 6 per cent).

GEM Residences - the top performer in May

The 5 top-selling projects were – GEM Residences, Stars of Kovan, The Poiz Residences, Bellewaters EC and The Vales EC.

Buyers to be ‘bargain hunting’

“Buying interest will remain selective. With two consecutive months of increased volume, there is a definite pick-up in momentum but whether it can be sustained largely depends on the project’s location and its pricing,” said Mr Ismail Gafoor.

With no changes to the government curbs on the horizon in 2015, transaction volume will continue to be launch-driven; largely dependent on the price and location of the project.

The luxury segment is also showing signs of a pickup due to strong performance of OUE Twinpeaks. Prices have reached a level whereby it is highly attractive to potential buyers.

“Sales performance will likely hover at an average of about 500 to 700 units per month for the rest of the year. For the whole of 2016, we envisage sales volume to be between 7,000 to 8,000 units in all.

“In Q3, the upcoming launches of Northwave and Treasure Crest ECs, and Lake Grande boost volume as developers look to step up their launch activities before the Hungry Ghost Festival hits in August”, commented Mr Ismail Gafoor.