According to a research report by property agency OrangeTee, a total of S$107 million in gross profit from reselling properties after projectcompletion since the first quarter of 2012 has been had by non-landed private property owners.
The report noted that property owners who had invested in the prime residential sector reaped the highest return in dollar terms, profitting an average of S$410,000 per unit.
Mass-market property owners in the Outside Central Region (OCR) meanwhile had the highest average percentage capital gain of 41 per cent.
However, shoebox units underperformed the general market, with the average profitability of each unit being S$132,000 or 25 per cent per unit in the last five quarters.
OrangeTee expects profitability from reselling uncompleted properties upon project completion to moderate in the coming quarters, attributing to the recent cooling measures implemented. However, the agency still expects demand for private housing to remain strong due to foreign capital inflow and the current low interest rate environment.
Head of Research and Consultancy at OrangeTee, Christine Li said, “Foreign capital inflow and the current low interest rate environment will help sustain demand for homes. Record land prices have also been set in certain localities in the recent Government Land Sales (GLS) programme.
“For instance, Keppel Land paid S$1163 per square foot per plot ratio for a site at Kim Tian Road when the tender closed last week. This is the highest land price paid for a 99-year leasehold site at a government tender in history, indicating that some developers are still bullish about the property market,” she added.