High value properties in Singapore increasingly sold at auctions, according to consultants

The total sales at property auctions in Singapore have shot up in 2010 to S$223.9 million, according to international property consultant Colliers International.
 
Colliers said high value properties performed well amid a slowdown in the mass market segment, which experienced dampened demand due to moderating prices and government cooling measures.
 
‘The robust sale of high value properties was fuelled by the pick up in demand for landed homes, especially the Good Class Bungalows, as well as the returning confidence of investors, which is evidenced by the number of en bloc investment grade properties bought by institutional investors during the year,’ said Grace Ng, deputy managing director of Colliers International.
 
Residential properties contributed 51.3% to the total auction sale value, 30% higher from a year earlier. Residential sales were driven mainly by the landed property segment. A total of 12 landed homes, worth S$78.95 million altogether, accounted for 68.8% of the year’s residential sales for auctions.
 
The non landed segment saw 24 properties, worth S$35.88 million, being sold at auctions. Nine of the properties are located in prime districts and are altogether worth S$21.71 million.
 
‘The growing dominance of owners’ sale in auction bears testimony to the changing public perception of auction from one that was largely associated with the sale of distressed properties and hence shunned by property owners, to one that is increasingly favoured even by the owners of high value properties,’ Ng explained.
 
‘Increasingly, we see permanent residents and foreign bidders from neighbouring countries  including Malaysia, Indonesia, Hong Kong, India and even China, attending auctions to bid for their choice properties,’ she added.