Knight Frank: 1Q2023 auction listings down 3%

According to data compiled by Knight Frank, the number of auction listings dropped by 3.0% quarterly to 96 in 1Q2023. This covers properties that have been listed before and are being listed again. According to Sharon Lee, head of auction & sales at Knight Frank Singapore, the decline may be ascribed in part to the Chinese New Year celebrations, when certain auction events were delayed.

Continuing a pattern that began in 2Q2022, Lee notes that owner listings outpaced mortgagee listings in 1Q2023. From 1Q2022’s 80 listings, the overall number of auctions has grown by 20% year-over-year.

While there were fewer postings overall in 1Q2023, there were still six sales, for a success rate of 6.3%. In contrast, the 4Q2022 auction market had a 9.1% success rate with 99 total listings.
In 1Q2023, 45 out of the total 88 postings were for homes. There were 18 entries by mortgagees and 20 by property owners. The remaining seven advertisements were all classified as “other,” which included estate, receiver, and bank sales. In St. Regis Residences, a non-landed mansion was put up for receiver sale for two months straight until it sold for $13.5 million in a private transaction.

Over the course of the first quarter of 2023, the number of mortgagee listings increased from ten in the fourth quarter of 2022 to thirty-two. More than double the number of postings from the previous quarter were made by residential mortgagees (18 vs. 8). However, the 21 residential mortgagee postings in 2Q2022 were 14.3 percent fewer year-over-year.

Four retail properties and three office buildings were listed by mortgagees in the first quarter of 2023, up from zero in the fourth quarter of 2022. From two in 4Q2022 to seven in 1Q2023, the number of mortgagee listings for industrial properties quadrupled like The Dunman Grand Price, and The Dunman Grand Showflat. According to Lee, the more challenging business environment brought on by global economic shocks, widespread inflation, and rising interest rates may be to blame for the surge.