THIS year's improved economy and property market prompted more home owners to sell their properties at auction - regarded as a hallmark of a strong property market.
Moreover, the value of total auction sales hit a seven-year high, although the total number of auctions, including mortgagee auctions, fell, consultants said.
However, in terms of home owner sales, a record 600 properties went to auction this year, up nearly 68 per cent from 358 properties last year, said consultancy Colliers International.
Of these, 43 properties were sold for $129.5 million in total - nearly double the $68.4 million in such sales last year.
Colliers executive director Grace Ng said these included uncompleted properties put up for sale by recent buyers at sought-after projects such as The Sail @ Marina Bay, The Arc at Draycott and The Berth by the Cove.
Some of these properties might have been sold via private treaty after the owners generated enough publicity and found buyers for their units at the auctions.
'From 1995 to 1996, when the market was hot, buyers also put up uncompleted units for auction. These included ones in The Blossomvale and Maysprings,' said Ms Ng.
'Next year, we expect more owners to use auctions to sell uncompleted units.'
Developers, too, used auctions as a yardstick to test market sentiment and set benchmark prices for prime properties, consultants said.
Sentosa Cove managed to set a benchmark price of $1,039 per sq ft for its seafront bungalow plots through the auction mode.
More recently, the penthouses in Marina Bay Residences were sold at record prices in a closed tender.
Consultants believe that more developers might be exploring other modes of sale, including auctions, to get the best price.
The Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore also adopted the auction method to sell sites to recover unpaid property tax this year.
This shows that the transparent auction method provides good exposure and helps to get the best price, said Knight Frank's executive director for auctions, Ms Mary Sai.
Looking ahead, she said, a wider variety of properties could be made available in the auction market as vendors' confidence in this mode increases.
About 175 properties were sold at auction this year, up from 163 last year.
Sales value reached a high of about $320 million - 'a level not seen since the last market peak in 1999', said Ms Sai.
The rise was helped by higher bids for apartments seen to have collective sale potential.
Notable among these sales was a penthouse unit at Silver Tower in Cairnhill, where four bidders drove the price to $6.12 million, way above its $4.5 million valuation. That was in late August, about a month before CapitaLand agreed to buy Silver Tower.
Still, repossessed properties make up the bulk of auction sales, though the number of such properties has fallen this year given a better economy.
Apart from declining loan defaults, mortgagors facing cash flow problems were able to dispose of their properties on the open market before bank foreclosures, said Ms Sai, explaining the drop in mortgagee's sales.
Other properties that were auctioned off included landed homes, office units, shophouses and industrial properties.
joyceteo@sph.com.sg
