95% of all property launches sold – Singapore

We read about slowdown in transactions. We also read about oversupply of high end properties. We have read about potential property bubble. Imagine my surprise when I read a report in Propertyguru.com.sg by LTC (NS) Mohamed Ismail the CEO of P&N Holdings. It was announced that over 95% of new launching in November in Singapore was sold! Hmm… am I missing something here or is the market still very strong in Singapore despite tough cooling measures?
A few key things were mentioned, namely: ‘strategic launches for the festive seasons’, ‘Priced near the baseline of the region’, ‘right pricing, ‘price projects sensitively to attain high take-up’.
Strategic launching dates: In Penang, every year, developers join property events during Chinese New Year, trying to attract buyers who happen to be home with their families for reunion. Typically these are very effective as decisions can be made on the spot. Quite easy to spot these developers, they are always at fairs inside malls. The organisers of such fairs are very clever because even without doing much promotion, sales are almost assured!
As for pricing, it does not take a genius to know what is the typical pricing in the market. Thus if you intend to sell as fast as possible, price it as near or as low as the typical pricing in the area. First time home buyers would buy from you if they can buy a NEW property at an attractive price. Let’s face it, who loves secondary more than new if both are similarly priced? However, if the price is high and the sales is slow….. soon, no one dares to buy and developer dares not start compounding the fear even further!
While a lot of people are now focussing on buying good value in the secondary market, including me, if we were to see new properties at a very attractive launching price, chances are the first choice is still the new property because it does not come often while secondary properties would always be available. 
written on 31 dec 2013
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