The economic battering Singapore has endured from the pandemic and global trade tensions does not appear to be reflected in its property market. At the same time as government data showed that the national economy shrank by 13.2 per cent year-on-year in the second quarter, private home prices rose by 0.3 per cent quarter-on-quarter , according to the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA). And while the third quarter revealed some economic relief – the contraction moderated to just 7 per cent – the URA’s latest data shows that private home prices rose again, gaining an additional 0.8 per cent, with an even stronger growth in the volume of new home sales. How the pandemic created positive changes in Metro Manila’s property market According to the developers’ sales survey by the URA, new home sales, excluding executive condominiums (EC), rose by 5.6 per cent from 1,258 units in August to 1,329 units in September, the highest monthly result since July 2018. Christine Sun, head of research and consultancy at OrangeTee & Tie Pte Ltd, said these results indicate that Singapore properties “are still hot amid the pandemic”. Linking robust sales over the past few months to strong underlying demand from local buyers, Sun said many Singaporeans, especially high net worth individuals, “have been looking out for value assets to grow their wealth and are planning to ride on the wave of market recovery”. Why are Hongkongers moving to Taiwan? Cheap homes and easy citizenship “They may feel that it is a good time to enter the market now since prices are likely to rise after the pandemic and Singapore’s economy is positioned for a gradual recovery with many sectors being reopened in recent months,” Sun said. “The housing stock in many mega launches is diminishing, which may have stoked the urgency in some buyers to ink a unit now.” According to URA Realis data, Singaporeans constituted 87.4 per cent of new non-landed home sales in September, the highest proportion of domestic buyers since April 2009. Lam Chern Woon, Edmund Tie & Company’s senior director of research and consulting, says the economic recovery, coupled with low interest rates and availability of credit, have catalysed interest in residential real estate, both from owner-occupiers and investors seeking to hedge against volatile equity markets and economic uncertainties. Cambodian property is booming despite Covid-19 – should you invest, quick? “Besides higher transaction activity, we are also seeing transactions of higher price quantum,” he said. “In light of the Sino-US tensions and other geopolitical uncertainties, Singapore’s neutral stance, political stability and positive living environment – especially in the areas of security, education and medical care – have made property investments here particularly attractive.” Edmund Tie attributes the flurry of recent sales activity to the reopening of show flats and greater launch activity. Of the six new launches in the third quarter of 2020, two projects in District 14 recorded take-up rates of above 60 per cent, aided by their competitive pricing. Macly Group reported a 66 per cent take-up of its 50-unit freehold residential project, NoMa, during its early bird preview sales on August 29, the majority within just an hour of their release. The joint developers of Penrose, Hong Leong Holdings Limited (HLHL) and City Developments Limited (CDL), sold 60.3 per cent out of a total of 566 units on its virtual launch weekend in late September. Is owning a desert island retreat in the Maldives worth it? In the resale market, transaction volume more than tripled from 951 units in Q2 2020 to 3,149 units in Q3 2020. Lam says this was attributed to home viewings being allowed once again, while Covid-19-related construction delays may also have led homebuyers to consider the resale market. While agreeing that the private residential market “has done remarkably well despite the economic environment”, Wong Xian Yang, associate director of research in Singapore and Southeast Asia at Cushman & Wakefield, notes that overall high-end Core Central Region (CCR) prices have lost ground. According to the firm’s research, landed CCR home prices declined by 3.8 per cent quarter-on-quarter in the third quarter of 2020, reversing gains of 2.7 per cent achieved in the previous quarter. It says year-to-date CCR prices have fallen by 3.4 per cent and demand remains constrained due loan curbs and cooling measures. Wong said: “Though overall high-end demand remains constrained we could see pockets of demand from the ultra-high net worth amid the current turbulent economic and geopolitical climate in the region, as they look towards Singapore for wealth preservation and diversification.” Look inside Kamala Harris’ multimillion-dollar real estate portfolio Foreign buyers, who almost disappeared from the market during the circuit-breaker period in April and May, have begun to reappear in the months since. Noting an uptick in activity, albeit not huge, Wong finds that foreign demand remains strongly driven by Chinese buyers, who took up 30 per cent of non-Singaporean transactions in the first eight months of 2020. Juwai IQI Holdings executive chairman Georg Chmiel believes travel restrictions have impacted foreign buying behaviour in Singapore because “only those who are very familiar with [the market] and know exactly what they want are willing to buy sight unseen”. “Mainland Chinese are still the biggest foreign buying group in Singapore and most of them – about 60 per cent – paid less than S$1.5 million (US$1.1 million),” he said. Yet an air of caution remains. Citing buyers’ confidence in Singapore’s gradual economic recovery as one possible reason for the strong sales results, Ismail Gafoor, CEO of PropNex, said the company “remains positive about private home sales this year. Having said that, we think new home sales activity could moderate in the final quarter of 2020.” “Based on market observations, while home buying interest remains keen, the recent clampdown on the reissue of OTPs (Option to Purchase) is likely to dampen sales slightly in the months ahead.” OrangeTee & Tie’s Sun, however, believes long-term investors and wealthy buyers are still on the prowl for real estate properties as many are repositioning their wealth from riskier assets in light of the macroeconomic uncertainties. She expects the fourth quarter of the year may see even stronger real estate activities in Singapore, which could help to mitigate the adverse impact from the new OTP regulations. Want more stories like this? Sign up here . Follow STYLE on Facebook , Instagram , YouTube and Twitter .