Singapore’s August home sales slump 39% from July

Singapore private home sales fell 39% in August from the previous month after developers offered fewer new units.

Sales declined to 1,699 in August from the 2,767 units in July, according to data on the Urban Redevelopment Authority’s Web site today. That’s still more than five times the 325 units sold in the same month last year, when Singapore’s economy was mired in its deepest recession since independence.

Developers marketed 1,641 new units for sale last month, compared with 2,878 in July. Transactions last month may have been affected by the “Hungry Ghost Month” or the seventh lunar month that started on Aug. 19 this year, which is traditionally seen by the Chinese as inauspicious.

Singapore’s home sales reached 10,000 units in the first seven months, more than the 4,300 sold for the whole of 2008, National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan said yesterday. The so-called take-up rate for these projects may exceed the historical high of 14,800 units in 2007, while home prices have started to increase “significantly” since June, he added.

Regards.

Dennis Ng, http://www.HousingLoanSG.com