Cushman & Wakefield Comments: URA Home Sales Volume January 2020

“Developers sold a total of 618 units in January 2020, up 14.9 per cent month-on-month compared to 538 units in December last year. Sales are also up 41.4 per cent year-on-year.

The January 2020 sales figure is encouraging given that the first two months of the year tend to be seasonally lower due to the start of the school term. Notably, this is the highest January sales figure over the last 7 years since  January 2013, when 2,028 units were sold.

Only three new projects were launched in January, namely, Leedon Green, The Avenir and Van Holland. All three projects are located in the CCR. New launches in 2020 will be dominated by the high-end market with around half of potential new launches expected to come from the CCR.

The outbreak of the 2019 Coronavirus (COVID-19) is expected to impact the private residential market in the near term, but it will be transient as the fundamentals are strong. Some buyers may choose to stay away from showflats and delay their decision to purchase for the time being. With the latest GDP figures revised downward, the economy is expected to take a hit from the disruption of businesses due to the COVID-19 outbreak. With some business sectors expected to experience a slowdown, buyer sentiments are expected to be more cautious until the situation improves, which could potentially be in 1H2020. Nonetheless, the underlying demand in the private residential market should remain unchanged and with pent-up demand accumulating, the market could potentially see a surge of transactions in 2H2020, post COVID-19 outbreak.

Top 10 selling projects in January 2020