_Auction Market Update Q4 2020

Key Highlights

• The year 2020 saw a total of 495 auction listings (including repeat listings) compared to 1,387 in 2019, with physical auctions barred due to safe distancing measures – a first in the history of auctions in Singapore.
   
• Success rates increased to 3.6% in 2020 from 1.4% in 2019, as demand for landed homes and industrial properties boosted successful sales during the limited auctions held in the year. As auctions resumed, Q4 2020 also saw a spike in success rate to 8.1%.
   
• Mortgagee sale listings (including repeat listings) declined to 304 listings in 2020 with only two quarters (Q1 and Q4) of auction activity, a substantial 51.7% decrease from 2019.
   
• Successful mortgagee sales accounted for 78.2% of the total gross sales value in 2020 at S$22.9 million, as the pandemic took its toll on individuals and businesses.
   
• Fuelled by demand for bigger living and open spaces, five landed mortgagee properties were sold during auction, compared to none in 2019. Of the five sales, four were snapped up during the first auction attempt at prices above or at their opening price. All four were located outside of the traditional prime districts, in Districts 12, 19 and 21.
   
• Seven industrial properties were sold in Q4 2020 alone, and were situated in more accessible locations, smaller than 2,500 sq ft and sold below S$1.5 million.
   
• Year 2020 saw 51 retail mortgagee listings, with all but one listing with floor areas of below 1,000 sq ft. 19 listings were in District 14, in mostly condominium developments or business centres.
   
• Owner sale listings fell to 180 in 2020, a 73.8% decline against 687 listings in 2019. The extension of loan repayment deferrals beyond 2021 might have provided some reprieve for owners to hold onto their property assets, temporarily allaying plans for divestment and owner sales.
   
• Auction listings of landed properties in prime Districts 10 and 11 comprised the bulk of owner sale landed listings in 2020, totalling 18 out of the 38 landed listings.

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