FAR East Organization, Singapore's largest closely held real estate developer, said it sold a record 2,200 homes in the first five months.
The developer marketed projects in Singapore's suburbs this year, including Watertown in the northeast and Hillier in the northwest, which includes homes modelled after New York and London apartments over a mall with a Dean & Deluca store.
Far East will offer discounts of as much as 3 per cent to mark the record sales, it said on its website.
The company's projects led the rebound in the country's home sales this year. Watertown in the Punggol suburb accounted for more than half of the total 1,872 units sold in January, when the city's residential transactions rebounded from a two-year low. April's home sales climbed to a three-year high of 2,487, boosted by developments including Far East's Hillsta, according to government data.
The government has been attempting to rein in prices since 2009, when it barred interest-only loans for some housing projects and stopped allowing developers to absorb interest payments for apartments still being built. Analysts said in April they all expect the government to introduce further measures to curb price increases.
The darkening economic climate affects buying sentiment, given that credit is the lifeblood of real estate, in the event of a credit crunch due to fallout in the Eurozone region, the local property market will be severely affected.
Source: Business Times – 6 June 2012