Sales of new homes plunged to their lowest level in five years last month as cooling measures and economic uncertainty hit the market. Developers released fewer units in the wake of growing resistance from buyers, who are becoming increasingly keen to hold out for lower prices. The result was that only 259 units were sold last month – the lowest since Jan 2009 and a remarkable 80 per cent down on the 1,271 units snapped up in Nov. Last month’s sales brought the 2013 tally to 15,015, which was 32.4 per cent lower than the 22,197 units sold in 2012, said URA yesterday. Market watchers said Dec is typically a slow sales period. But they noted last month’s figures were still in stark contrast with Dec 2012, when 1,410 new units were moved. Confidence in the property market was still high then, noted Mr Ong Teck Hui, national director of research and consultancy at JLL. Cooling measures imposed since those heady days have been reining in the red-hot market. URA figures showed that overall private home prices for the three months to Dec 31 sank by 0.8 per cent from the previous quarter.... Continue Reading