This year's Hungry Ghost Festival, which is celebrated on the seventh month of the Chinese lunar calendar, comes at a time when the global economy is also slowing.
Traditionally, it means a quieter property market as investors and developers lie low during what they perceive to be an inauspicious occasion.
The Singapore property market is no exception, but experts said lower volumes may not be due to superstitions alone. According to market watchers, buyers in the market today tend to put bargains over and above bogeymen. Eugene Lim, associate director, ERA Asia Pacific, said: "They tend to be less affected by their grandmother's tales and all that kind of thing, and they basically make their decisions on what they see and the dollars and cents behind it. In that sense, they are more open to buying properties even during the Chinese seventh month."
In fact, last year's boom saw developers and buyers alike doing brisk business throughout the seventh month.
While no concrete data is available after just the first week of the seventh month, most market watchers expect volume to have slowed a little. But this does not mean prices will be heading south anytime soon.
Eric Cheng, executive director, HSR Group, said: "Developers out there will not price their prices even lower than the construction costs plus the land cost that they actually purchased."
It would appear that the property industry as a whole has fewer reasons to be spooked. - CNA/so
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