SRX: Singapore's resold condominium volume rose 17% in march

Based on flash estimates from real estate portal SRX Property, the number of Singapore condominium units resold in March rose 17 per cent to 709 units from 606 units in February.
Even so, compared to last year, resale volume was 13 per cent less whereas resale volume was 21 per cent less from the five-year average volume in March.
From a regional perspective, 19.6 per cent of the month’s volume came from the core central region (CCR), 22.9 per cent from the rest of central region (RCR), and 57.5 per cent from the outside central region (OCR).
Due to deals that had been closed earlier this year or deals almost completing prior to the worsening of COVID-19 spread in late-March, these two factors led to increased sales, according to Christine Sun, who is the Head of Research and Consultancy of OrangeTee and Tie.
In March, resale prices rose 0.1 per cent from February while also increasing 0.4 per cent higher than the same period last year.
There was also a monthly rise in condo resale prices in March for OCR at 1.3 per cent, whereas RCR and CCR prices declined 1.7 per cent and 0.1 per cent each respectively.
From a year-on-year comparison, OCR and RCR prices fell 0.7 per cent and 0.8 per cent each respectively, whereas CCR prices increased 1 per cent.
The Ritz-Carlton Residences is the highest transacted price for a resale unit in March at S$10.5 million. Also, in OCR, a Flamingo Valley unit resold at S$3.3 million was the most expensive resale unit. On the other hand, in RCR a resale unit at Pebble Bay was the most expensive at S$4.4 million.
Compared to February, the overall transaction over X-value (TOX) remained flat at negative S$2,000 in March.
How much a buyer is underpaying (negative value) or overpaying (positive value) for a property based on SRX’s computer-generated market value is captured by the TOX value. Only districts with more than 10 resale transactions are included in the data.
The highest median TOX recorded is District 9 (Orchard and River Valley) at positive S$40,000, followed by District 8 (Farrer Park and Serangoon Road) at positive S$35,000.
District 20 (Ang Mo Kio, Bishan and Thomson) recorded the lowest median TOX at negative S$62,000, followed by District 15 (East Coast and Marine Parade) at negative S$30,000.
The figures in March have likely not reflected the impact from COVID-19 pandemic, Ms Sun pointed out.
March figures suggest the underlying strength of the local real estate market which would experience rising real estate prices and transaction volume robustly under normal circumstances, noted Nicholas Mak, who is ERA Realty’s Head of Research and Consultancy.
Mr Mak said that the company expects the resale volume this month to be a fraction of the usual monthly volume of 600 to 900 units.