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POOR attendance at auctions in May and June, apparently because of the stock market rout and the World Cup, nearly halved the total value of properties sold at auction from $70.12 million in the first quarter to $37.35 million this quarter, according to the latest figures from Colliers International.

Sales at auction are down further this quarter because of the absence of large transactions such as development sites and good-class bungalows at auctions.

But it should be a different story for the third quarter, says Colliers' executive director and veteran auctioneer Grace Ng. She predicts the total auction sales value for Q3 may exceed $100 million - which would be the highest quarterly figure in seven years.

STYL not found The big jump in Q3 is expected to be achieved from several high-value properties being put up for sale by their owners. 'The most high-profile of these, of course, will be the auction of 12 bungalow parcels at Sentosa Cove's Southern Residential Precinct on Aug 25,' Ms Ng says.

Market watchers reckon that assuming the bungalow plots fetch $5 million on average, the total tally from that auction alone would be $60 million. Another owners' auction on July 21 will see 11 strata units at Automobile MegaMart at Ubi Avenue 2 go under the hammer.

Colliers' Q2 auction report also reinforced the growing willingness of owners to sell their property by auction. The number of properties put up for auction by owners more than doubled to 176 in the April-June quarter, from 83 in the preceding quarter.

Mortgagee properties still continued to dominate the auction market, with 428 properties going under the hammer in the second quarter, although this represents a more modest 9.5 per cent increase over the preceding quarter.

'These days, owners realise that auction is a faster method of selling a property because of the accompanying publicity. As well, auction is starting to lose its stigma of being associated with mortgagee or distressed sales,' Ms Ng says.

Over a one-year period, the number of properties put up for auction by owners has risen 93 per cent from 91 in Q2 last year to 176 this year, while the number of mortgagee properties has declined 31 per cent from 621 in Q2 2005 to 428 this year.

In terms of actual auction sales value during Q2, there was an increase for shophouses, offices and industrial properties but a decline for the investment and residential sectors.

Colliers said the number of repossessed HDB shops and hawker stalls put up for sale through auction remained high.

'The situation could be caused by the existence of suburban malls offering a wide variety of products under one roof. Such malls have drawn shoppers away from the traditional HDB shops, leading to a decline in business for the shop owners.'