Residential

Record proportion made by sub-800 sq ft units

47.6 percent of non-landed private homes sold in 2013 were reported to be small units of up to 800 sq ft – a record for the unit type, compared with 43.4 percent in 2012 and over 40 percent in 2011. CBRE Research associate director Desmond Sim commented that this shows a ‘function of supply’ where developers reduced unit sizes to make the absolute price quantum affordable to buyers affected by tighter loan limits. This increase was not due to shoebox apartments (below 500 sq ft) but due to 500-800 sq ft units. In fact, the proportion of 500-800 sq ft units went up to 34.4 percent in 2013, compared with 29.7 percent in 2012 and 25.9 percent in 2011; while the proportion of shoebox units went down from 13.8 percent in 2012 to 13.2 ...