Singapore Home Sales Rose 1.7% in February on New Projects

Singapore’s home sales rose in February as developers marketed new projects, a government report showed. Home sales climbed 1.7 percent to 724 units last month compared with 712 in the same period a year ago, according to data from the Urban Redevelopment Authority released today. Sales climbed 28 percent from January, the data showed. Singapore’s property market is stabilizing and the country isn’t facing a credit bubble that puts the island or its banking system at risk of a crisis, the central bank said on Jan. 15. The government introduced loan measures in June as it widened a campaign that started in 2009 to curb speculation in the Southeast Asian city. “The market is showing signs of stability after the exceptionally low sales in January,” said Nicholas Mak, executive director and head of research at SLP International Property Consultants in Singapore. Mak expects home sales by developers at between 11,000 and 13,000 units this year. Among the developers that began sales of their projects was UOL Development (Sengkang) Pte, which sold 211 of 250 units marketed at its Riverbank @ Fernvale, and Watervine Homes Pte, which sold 218 of 300 units at its Rivertrees Residences, both located in the city’s north east, according to the URA.

Photographer: Nicky Loh/Bloomberg

Residential buildings stand in the Grange Road area of Singapore.

Singapore’s fourth-quarter home prices slid for the first time in almost two years, trimming annual gains to the smallest since 2008. Housing values gained 1.1 percent in 2013, the smallest annual increase since prices slid 4.7 percent in 2008. The private residential property price index fell 0.9 percent to 214.3 in the three months ended December, data from the authority showed on Jan. 24. To contact the reporter on this story: Pooja Thakur in Singapore at pthakur@bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: Andreea Papuc at apapuc1@bloomberg.net Tomoko Yamazaki, Iain McDonald Source :   http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-03-17/singapore-home-sales-rose-1-7-in-february-on-new-projects.html