Chart of the Day: New home sales to fall between 7,000-8,000 in 2020

Prices are expected to stabilise with a 0%-1% growth.

This chart from CBRE shows that the demand and prices for private residential homes will likely remain stable despite the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak, with the number of new sales projected to fall between 7,000 to 8,000.

Meanwhile, resale volume is expected to fall within the range of 6,000 to 7,000 units.

Even though market sentiments will likely take a hit, especially with the projected lack of Chinese buyers, prices are expected to stabilise and achieve between 0% to 1% growth in 2020. This is on the back of high land costs and lack of supply.

“In addition, most of the projects with an Additional Buyer Stamp Duty (ABSD) deadline in 2020 either have their units 100% sold or close to fully sold. Thus, the pressure to reduce prices is not significant,” the report further noted.

Projects from the Core Central Region (CCR) make up close to 40% of units available to launch in the year.

Meanwhile, Chinese customers are unlikely to feature in the short term given the current outbreak. The Chinese accounted for 19.3% of new home purchases in the CCR in 2019, excluding Singaporeans, according to CBRE.

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However, they are expected to return in the mid to long term, attracted by Singapore’s stability. The continued low interest rates are also likely to help fuel and sustain the underlying demand from both local and foreign investors, the report added.