Private home resales spring back to life

Savills Singapore's analysis shows that resale volumes for March have recovered to levels seen before the ABSD kicked in. The turnaround was sudden, as the resale market had remained jittery even while buyers were returning to property launches in the first two months of the year. However, since March, agents say that some of the eye-popping psf prices achieved at new launches have helped to jumpstart interest in the secondary market for completed properties, where prices look more attractive.  Savills' analysis of URA Realis caveats data shows 1,142 resale deals for private homes (excluding ECs and en bloc sales) done in March - double the 565 caveats for February and more than three times January's volume of 314 transactions. The March number also exceeds December's volume of 776 and November's 981. The March 2012 resale volume is still 23% below the 1,480 caveats lodged in March 2011. The final tally for March 2012 could rise as more caveats stream in over the next few weeks. Savills' analysis, based on caveats captured by URA Realis as at April 24, also showed 332 resale transactions being done so far this month.