Auctioned properties jumped to 9-year high at 454 listings in H1

The aggregate value of properties sold at auctions plummeted to $35.3m.

Singapore properties put up for auction jumped by 21.7% YoY to 454 listings, including re-listings, in H1 2018 – the highest level recorded since H2 2009, Colliers International revealed. The number of listings rose across all sectors except the industrial segment where listings fell by 1.1% to 87.

The aggregate value of properties sold at auctions stood at $35.3m, 23.6% lower than the $46.2m transacted last year and 42.2% down from $61m in the last half-year. The decline in auction sales value was due to lower quantum per unit that was transacted during the period.

Compared against a year ago, residential listings were up 15.8% to 234, office listings rose 30% to 13, whilst retail listings climbed 60.3% to 117 in the H1 2018. Three other listings were for a vacant land and two medical suites.

Colliers International director of capital markets & investment services Steven Tan noted that the increase in listings was partly driven by more owners opting to sell their properties via auctions and more mainstream brokerage firms entering the auction market.

“Whilst owners’ listings rose sharply, mortgagee listings grew at a slower pace during the period amidst the improved Singapore economy,” Tan added. “Looking ahead, we believe mortgagee listings may plateau or rise more slowly with less distress in residential and office markets which have picked up strongly in the last two quarters. Industrial and retail property markets may also start to stabilise by end-2018.”

There were 200 such listings in H1 2018, representing increases of 6.4% from a year ago and 8.1% from H2 2017. This is a drastic slowdown from the 28.5% and 23.7% YoY growth recorded in H2 2017 and H1 2017 respectively.

Residential properties accounted for about 60% of total mortgagee listings in H1 2018 at 121 listings, followed by 53 industrial mortgagee listings, 25 retail mortgagee listings, and one office mortgagee listing.

In contrast, owners’ listings rose sharply by 37.3% YoY and 3.7% from H2 2017 to 254 listings during the first six months of this year. All sectors, except industrial, saw owners’ listings increased YoY in H1 2018.

This reflected “an increased interest from owners as they believed auctions would give their properties maximum exposure and the ability to garner the best price,” Colliers International said.

Of the 21 properties that were knocked down, 11 (or 52.4%) were mortgagee sales: comprising eight residential properties and one each from the retail, office, and industrial segments.

Colliers expects overall auction listings to continue to grow in the second half of 2018, driven by increased owners’ listings across most sectors.

Tan added, “Despite the new cooling measures, we believe owners who had sold their homes in the past two years via collective sale are still likely to seek immediately-available replacement homes in the auction market. We would still recommend auction as a good platform to seek or sell properties for optimal exposure and pricing.”