At MortgageWise.sg, we try to provide our property investor clients with a snapshot of the performance of Singapore residential property market regularly through our own basket of condos which will provide supplementary insights in a more meaningful and personal manner than just a broad-based index from URA. Properties are not created equal and some will rise or fall more than the rest.

The condos selected in the basket are deemed iconic enough to be representative of prices in a particular precinct that is smaller than a whole central region or outside central region as defined by URA.  For areas outside central region we also tend to pick condos either right at or nearest MRT stations as these tend to be well sought after by investors.  Our basket would allow property investors to see the actual variation in prices over time for a particular group of condos that are fairly well-known in Singapore.  However our illustration is nothing more than simple averages of all transactions done over 6-month periods and in cases where there are less than 5 transactions (marked with an asterisk) do take the reading with a pinch of salt.  We also highlight the highest psf achieved in the period.

So, before you buy condo Singapore, let us take a look at our basket and their performance over the 2 halves of 2017.  The double-digit percentage change in psf prices are highlighted for you in blue (rise) and red (fall).

First immediate observation is that the property market indeed has turned over from a period of sustaining drop in average transacted psf prices.  Most of the condos in our basket has increased its transaction prices in 2^ndhalf of 2017 with the exception of only a handful with the biggest drop at The Glades condo in the East.  However, on closer look it is because these are the remaining bigger units that the developer has finally sold out at the completed condo after one year thereby pulling down the average psf prices when compared with the earlier 6-month period where most of the developer units sold were smaller 2/3 bedders.

In fact, one exceptional performer that registered a double-digit increase in average psf prices is the famous D’Leedon condo at Farrer Road that boasts of over 1,700 units developed by Capitaland.  For such a massive prime district 10 condo with significant number of sellers to do an average price uptick of over 10% does indicate the tide has turned in favour of sellers.  What is more remarkable is that the same condo facing a supply glut at one stage actually dropped seen average transacted psf prices dropped from $1,527 (in 2016 2^ndhalf) to $1,255.

Of noteworthy mention is that even at the luxury segment, our benchmark condo Ardmore Park has continued its momentum of increasing average transacted prices from 2.8% (based on our previous comparison in Aug 2017) to now 4.4%, albeit the highest price achieved has come down.

On the whole, the prices in luxury and prime distrct have improved but those in the city-fringe (with the exception of D’Leedon) and outskirts have remained plateau or even gone down somewhat which signals continued weakness in the mass market property prices due to vacant units.

Since 2014, MortgageWise.sg has provided thought leadership in the mortgage planning space in Singapore, taking deep dives into the latest trends in the industry, providing useful mortgage tips, and making sense of rate movements.  We aim to build trust with clients for longer term partnership and not just do product-pushing for a one-time deal unlike bankers.  That’s why we always present “whole-of-market” perspective including packages that banks do not pay us.  That’s why many have chosen to work with us in the end notwithstanding the sheer number of brokers and agents out there.