How 'affordability crunch' urged homebuyers to opt for smaller sized units

Demand for big units has been gradually

shrinking. Savills analysis of the caveats lodged

from Q1/2012 to Q3/2013 shows that in

the new sale segment, home

buyers are now favouring smaller private

non-landed homes islandwide, with sizes

from >60 sq m to 80 sq m. Savills noted that the demand for these

types of units has risen for three

consecutive quarters from 17.7% in

Q4/2012 to 28.2% in Q3/2013, registering

almost 1 percentage point more than

units sized ≤60 sq m, which include one- bedroom apartments and "shoe-box"

units. At the same time, the percentages of

relatively big units (>100 sq m) have been

gradually shrinking since early this year. Here's more from Savills: Our analysis also reveals that the

average price quantum for the units sized

>60 sq m to 80 sq m was about S$

1,100,000, while that of the bigger units of

>100 sq m to 120 sqm was about S$

1,490,000. These findings suggest that there were a

number of buyers who entered the

market, had their budgets crimped by the

cooling measures and TDSR, and have

been compelled to trade size for

affordability.

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