SINGAPORE (Bloomberg): Singapore home sales fell in February on a lack of new project launches, adding to evidence that the market is cooling.
Developers sold 149 new private homes last month, figures released Friday by the Urban Redevelopment Authority show. That’s the fewest on record for the month of February, and down from the 281 sold in January. Monthly sales data only began being released in mid-2007.
Singapore’s residential property market, which boomed during the pandemic, is now slowing as high interest rates and curbs introduced by the government in recent years continue to bite.
"The market is slowing down across the board,” said Christine Sun, chief researcher and strategist at real estate agency OrangeTee Group. Still, she added that February was a shorter month and dominated by the Lunar New Year holiday, with no major launches by developers, making March a more accurate gauge for demand.
While rival financial hub Hong Kong recently scrapped curbs on its property market, granting it a reprieve from a major slump, Singapore hasn’t followed suit. The city-state’s annual budget announced last month featured little aimed at stimulating demand.
In the budget, the government lowered a penalty imposed on builders that don’t sell projects in time. But the country’s main developer association REDAS said it hoped for further reductions in the so-called clawback rate "to alleviate the severe hardship and pressure some projects and developers are facing.”
The high-end property segment has been pummeled in particular, after a 60% stamp duty imposed on foreigners last year. Cuscaden Reserve, a luxury project near the Orchard shopping belt, has sold just 12 of its 192 units completed last year, according to URA data, with apartments now being offered at discounts of as much as 20%.
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