Nazarudin Latief
June 12, 2020•Update: June 12, 2020
JAKART
The property sector in Singapore remains in contraction even after some sectors of the economy reopened in the first phase of the post-circuit breaker - the country's anti-coronavirus measures - period, according to a local media report.
Showrooms remain closed, while developers and property agents are still unable to hold face-to-face meetings with prospective buyers.
Amid these challenging situations, new private home sales fell 12% in the first quarter. In the same period, prices fell 1%, local Channel News Asia reported.
According to the report, most market observers expect prices to continue this downward trend.
A local consultant expects private home prices to decline between 3 and 5%, although certain segments of the property market will do better than others, the report said.
"We are not expecting it to be uniform across the whole industry because it really depends very much on the market segment," said Christine Sun, head of research and consultancy at OrangeTee & Tie.
She also noted that some of the mass market projects have been selling up to 70% of their units.
Singapore has introduced several measures to preserve stability in the property market, including the total debt servicing ratio and the mortgage servicing ratio, according to the report.
Last month, it was also announced that buyers who entered into deals to purchase homes from developers can apply for temporary legal protection should they face troubles making payments due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it added.
*Writing by Rhany Chairunissa Rufinaldo from Anadolu Agency's Indonesian language service in Jakarta.
