Rehda president Soam Heng Choon said this was in line with the economic recovery, better buying sentiment and the global vaccine rollout which will improve the global economic outlook.
“When the broader economy recovers, the property market will follow,” Soam told reporters during a media briefing today.
In a survey that covered 134 property developers, 20% said they were optimistic about the market and sales for the second half of 2021, compared with just 8% in the first half.
The same goes for residential sector growth with 26% being optimistic, compared with 8% previously.
Soam noted that the respondents were neutral about the economic and business outlook, as they were concerned about consumers’ purchasing power in the first half of the year.
However, in both cases, there was increased optimism for the second half of the year.
In terms of future property launches, he said 49% of respondents planned to launch their projects in the first half of next year, involving a total of 13,037 units.
However, the majority of them (83%) expect their sales performance to be 50% and below.
The survey showed that 98% of respondents were affected by the current economic scenario, including 26% who said they were “highly and severely affected”, compared with 26% in the second half of 2019.
He said compliance cost remained the main component affecting cash flow, followed by material and labour cost as well as land cost.
Soam said the second half of last year saw the launch of 12,640 residential units compared with 12,556 units in the second half of 2019.
Sales performance was better in the second half of 2020, increasing to 45% from 43% previously.
Of the 5,736 residential units sold, 2,467 were in the two- and three-storey terrace category, while the second top-performing type was serviced apartments with 1,225 units, followed by apartments/condominiums with 1,082 units.
He said the Home Ownership Campaign (HOC) 2020/2021 had boosted sales performance, with 89% garnering their sales through it.
The developers agreed that the HOC was effective in clearing unsold stock and hoped for an extension until December.