It has been exactly one month since the 5th July cooling measures took effect. So what has been happening in the market since then?
Well, it looks like a trend is emerging. Projects that are reasonably priced, seem to be doing OK. Those like Park Colonial, that succeeded in selling in the region of 100 to 110 units after 5th July. Also Stirling Residences, that managed to sell over 160 units after the initial 186 on the night of 5 July. These are priced at around $1,7xx to $1,8xx PSF, which is not outrageously high for their very convenient locations.
But not so for those that are still trying for benchmark prices.
So what will this mean for upcoming launches that are launching in the next six months into early 2019? New launches like Parc Esta at Eunos, or
Belgravia Green in the Seletar Hills area, or Jadescape at Shunfu, or the
Mont Botanik condo at Hillview? They would do well to take a lesson from those developments that did not fare very well at their recent launches. Projects like Daintree Residences at Toh Tuck (apparently 50 units sold at average of $1,710 PSF) or Casa Al Mare (around 14% sold). Compare these with the Tre Ver condo that moved over 141 units after the developer UOL brought their pricing down to about $1,5xx PSF excluding an extra rebate at the launch.
So the lesson here is very clear. There are still buyers out there. But they are a lot more selective, and they do their homework.
What about the older launches? Some of these may have increased prices after their initial launches, to keep up with the market movement. Like the
Marina One condo or Martin Modern? Taking Martin Modern, which is now 60% sold. It started out priced at about $2,300 PSF. Then as the market picked up momentum, pricing at Martin Modern rose to around $2,700 to $2,900 PSF. Even with that it was selling steadily, maybe because places like Park Place Residences at Paya Lebar were already hitting $2,000 PSF, and Woodleigh Residences was reported to be aiming above $2,000 too.
Well after 5th July 2018, the
Martin Modern condo gave buyers some rebates, and managed to clear another 8 units. Of course even with the incentives, prices are still above the $2,300 PSF average at the launch, but by giving the incentives, it appealed to buyers who had to fork out more for ABSD.
Updates on the Current New Launch Market
