Sluggish start to 2024 ends in decade-high home sales at year’s end
The property industry in 2024 unravelled in 2 starkly different parts. The first part was slow, with shop developments taking centre stage and the smallest number of units launched sold ever since 1H1996, according to Huttons Data Analytics. Sales volume mirrored this trend, with just 1,889 units sold– the lowest ever since 1996.
Yip notices that the dispatch of the 276-unit property Kassia on Flora Drive around late July, that achieved a 52% take-up fee, established the scene for solid deals momentum following the Lunar Seventh Month.
In 3Q2024, brand-new home sales leapt 60% q-o-q, according to Huttons, that noted a change in view, which some credit to the 50-basis factor interest rate reduced by the United States Federal Reserve in September.
Developer profits in November soared to 2,557 units– the strongest figure ever since March 2013, when 3,489 units were released and 2,793 were offered, according to Huttons Data Analytics.
It started on Nov 6 with the kick off of the 367-unit The Collective at One Sophia, followed by the 366-unit Union Square Residences at Havelock Roadway on Nov 9. Momentum built up with the launch of the 916-unit Chuan Park on Nov 10, and it surged over the weekend of Nov 15-16 with 3 projects started together: the 846-unit Emerald of Katong, the 552-unit Nava Grove, and the 504-unit Novo Place exec condo (EC).
Additional evidence of raised sales momentum surfaced on Oct 5, the moment more than 50% of the 226 units at Meyer Blue were purchased in private sales. Units were negotiated at an average cost of $3,260 psf, establishing a new benchmark for the prime District 15 enclave on the East Coast.
“Despite close monitoring by authorities, brand-new procedures are most likely to stay on hold unless clear signs of persistent market overheating emerge,” Chia incorporates.
The solid November productivity pressed overall property developer deals for the first 11 months of 2024 to 6,344 units. Year-end numbers are expected to surpass 6,500 units, going beyond the 6,421 units marketed in 2023. “This shows the stability and flexibility of the real property market,” states Huttons’ Yip. “It marks the enduring demand of real property as an asset for wealth development and security.”
” Market view was tentative and careful,” mentions Mark Yip, Chief Executive Officer of Huttons Asia. “It could be due to unpredictabilities in the job market and constantly high rate of interest. Customers were likely restraining, awaiting the extremely anticipated project launches later on in the year, like Chuan Park and Emerald of Katong.”
The first assignment introduced after the Lunar Seventh Month was the 158-unit 8@BT at Bukit Timah Link. Over the weekend of Sept 21– 22, 53% of its units were snapped up at an average price of $2,719 psf.
According to Chia Siew Chuin, JLL’s head of residential research, the sluggish performance of the exclusive residential industry in the very first three quarters of 2024 created an atypical year-end circumstance. “Property developers, who had continuously held off launches because of financial unpredictabilities and hopes for enhanced conditions, finally rolled out projects in November.”
Speculation is now rampant about the choice of further property cooling actions, given the uncharacteristically high November sales. “While November’s sales figures are remarkable, they give an insufficient picture for forecasting lessening measures,” Chia notes. “The market liveliness was largely steered by a year-end thrill to launch projects.”
With cumulative new home sales in 2024 likely to continue to be on a par with that in 2023, Chia considers regulatory treatment “unlikely”. Any intervention, she claims, will depend upon 2 factors: continual sales force into the initial quarter of 2025 and a simultaneous sharp rise in property prices outpacing GDP growth.
The exemption was the 533-unit Lentor Mansion, that attained a 75% take-up price throughout its release weekend in March. Most other project launches in 1H2024 observed reasonably lacklustre revenues contrasted to 2023.
Chia says this absolute change from caution to response was motivated by the coming close to year-end cheery lull and improved market belief from the third quarter of 2024. “The surge in activity has actually transformed November right into an uncommonly vivid time frame for real estate launches, defying the common seasonal stagnation and creating a vibrant market environment.”
The 348-unit Norwood Grand in Woodlands even attained numerous milestones. Over the weekend of October 19-20, it experienced a take-up rate of 84%, reaching the best-selling venture in terms of rate of sales as of October. The standard rate of units offered was $2,067 psf, noting the first time a property in Woodlands exceeded the $2,000 psf threshold.
Norwood Grand was the first brand-new nonpublic non commercial project launched in Woodlands in 12 years. Its solid performance was additionally a very clear indicator of expanding customer assurance and need, according to Huttons’ Yip. It caused a tidal upsurge of activity in November with a record-breaking 6 new assignments comprising 3,551 units released over 10 days.
