PRIVATE home buyers returned 150 units to developers last month at projects such as Sky Habitat, The Tampines Trilliant and Hillsta - the highest number in at least five years.
These units, bought in April, made up 5.7 per cent of the more than 2,600 non-landed homes, including executive condominiums (ECs), sold that month.
Despite the high absolute figure for returns, experts say that in percentage terms, the rate is in line with last year's.
They add that the spike in absolute numbers is largely due to April's robust sales which had buyers snapping up the most number of units in almost three years.
Return rates are defined as returned units as a percentage of total non-landed sales in the previous month.
These rates have remained largely below 6 per cent.
While the 150 returned units represent a five-year high in terms of absolute numbers, the percentage return rate was higher in the earlier part of the year.
For instance, while 52 units were returned in January, that translated to a return rate of 9 per cent. This may have been caused by the tough round of cooling measures unveiled last December.
However, the record is still that set in February 2008; the rate was a staggering 41 per cent, with 127 units returned out of about 310 non-landed units sold, as concerns over the United States economy and choppy stock markets hit sentiment.
Last month, 15 units were returned at Hillsta in Choa Chu Kang's Phoenix Road, 11 units at EC project The Tampines Trilliant and 10 at Sky Habitat in Bishan.
In April, buyers returned 17 units at Riversound Residence in Punggol and nine each at Ripple Bay in Pasir Ris and at EC project Twin Waterfalls in Punggol.
Source: The Straits Times – 20 June 2012