SINGAPORE (June 19): CGS-CIMB Research is keeping its “overweight” call on the Singapore property sector, following a 53% month-on-month surge in private home sales in May.
A total of 1,121 units were sold during the month, some 8% higher than a year ago.
“The bulk of the sales were in the Outside Central Region with 40% of total new sales coming from Twin Vew in the West Coast area and another close to 12% of sales from new projects such as Amber 45 and Sixeen35 Residences,” says analyst Lock Mun Yee in a report on Monday.
According to Lock, the take-up rate in the first five months of 2018 is on track to hit the brokerage’s expectation for some 11,000-12,000 units to be sold this year.
“With more projects coming onstream, we anticipate the price growth trajectory to remain positive, but at a more moderate pace, for the remainder of this year,” she says.
Already, a number of new residential projects have rolled out their launches in June, including Affinity at Serangoon, The Gardens Residences, and Margaret Ville. And others, such as Rivercove Residences, have also started registering buyer interest.
See: 112 of 300 units put up for sale at Affinity at Serangoon sold over weekend: Oxley
Despite the rosy outlook, Singapore developers have seen their share prices shed close to 5% over the past month.
“At this juncture, we find Singapore developers inexpensive,” Lock says, adding that she prefers big-cap names such as City Developments and UOL Group.
According to Lock, City Dev’s land restocking activities would enable the group to continue to ride the residential upcycle and underpin its RNAV expansion, while UOL is boosted by a high recurring income base, underpinned by rentals, hotel operations and investment holdings.
CGS-CIMB has “add” calls on both City Developments and UOL, with target prices at $13.41 and $9.65, respectively.
As at 12.12pm, shares of City Developments are trading 3 cents up at $11.25, while shares of UOL are trading 4 cents down at $7.58.
