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The sale of Jurong Point suburban malll at G$ 2.2b is considered the largest investment deal in 2017
Things are looking up once again for Singapore’s property market Singapore’s property market is bucking the declining trend of the past few years with figures and prospects for both residential and commercial spaces all looking positive for the rest of the year.
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ne of the biggest reasons why things are on the rise once again for Singapore’s property market is the improving market sentiments and the country’s still relatively low interest rates, buoyed further by the government’s implementation of zealous cooling measures to ease the downward trend that started following the peak reached in the third quarter of 2013. This decline, according to Value Penguin’s senior vice president Duckju Kang, represents the longest decline in real estate prices in Singapore, with landed and nonKey indicators
Source: URA, MTI, OrangeTee Research
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SINGAPORE BUSINESS REVIEW | NOVEMBER 2017
In the first half of 2017, sales of private residential units reached a total of 6,039 as compared to only 3,675 units sold in the same period last year, representing a 64% year-onyear increase
landed property values down 10% and 8%, respectively, over the last 13 consecutive quarters. This relatively slight upturn has been a welcome reprieve for various stakeholders in the sector. Xian Yang Wong, Orange Tee’s head of research & consultancy, said that buyers who were previously window shopping are now coming into the market to buy. This is echoed by Ismail Gafoor, PropNex Realty’s CEO, saying that Singapore’s real estate market is currently abuzz with activities and we are witnessing a rebound in consumer confidence. “Buyers who were once waiting on the sidelines to see signs of recovery seemed to be making the move,” he said. Hottest locations High end properties in Core Central Region (CCR) are now underpriced at around $2,500-$3,000 psf while Sentosa properties have dropped 30-35% over the last four years, driven down by various cooling measures in the last five years, which makes purchasing in these areas especially attractive for investors, said Gafoor. For Alice Tan, head of research and consultancy at Knight Frank, investors should consider snapping up properties in locations with “strong development growth stories” such as the Jurong Lake District and Paya Lebar