Singapore Home Sales Surge Five-Fold as Developers Launch More Projects 

Sales of new private homes in Singapore jumped by 408 percent to 1,412 units in July from just 278 condos sold in June after developers launched 2,500 new homes during the month.

The latest figure, which excludes subsidised housing and executive condominiums, marked the highest monthly tally in nearly two years or since 1,547 units were sold in November 2021, PropNex Realty said on Tuesday, citing Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) data. The July statistics represent a 69 percent increase from the same month in 2022.

Wong Siew Ying, research and content head at PropNex Realty, noted that over 80 percent of the purchases were of new homes introduced to the market via July’s project launches, led by SingHaiyi Group’s sale of 549 units in its Grand Dunman development in District 15.

“As expected, new home sales made a strong comeback in July, after a brief slump in the previous month as four back-to-back new launches helped to turbocharge developers’ sales,” Wong said “With more fresh launches on the market, home buyers now have more options, particularly owner-occupiers looking at the 2- and 3-bedroom unit types, which tend to be sold out more quickly and are limited in supply in the market.”

Aiming for Average

The majority of July’s sales were recorded in the city-fringe Rest of Central Region (RCR) where buyers picked up 836 units, which was an increase of 469 percent from the 147 condos sold there in June.

The month’s biggest seller was SingHaiyi’s 1,008-unit project on Katong’s Dunman Road which achieved a median price of S$2,519 ($1,856) per square foot. That came in just above the median of  S$2,499 per square foot recorded across the RCR last month, according to PropNex’ analysis of URA data.

Pinetree Hill in Bukit Timah, which is being developed by UOL Group and its Singapore Land subsidiary, sold 150 out of 520 condos at a median price of S$2,360 per square foot since its mid-July launch, the data showed.

In the suburban Outside Central Region (OCR), new home sales leapt to 488 units last month from just 19 condos in June thanks to new supply provided by the Lentor Hills Residences project in the upcoming Lentor estate. GuocoLand and its partners in the joint venture project sold 333 units in Lentor Hills Residences at a median S$2,107 per square foot.

City Developments Ltd found buyers for 127 units in its The Myst development in Bukit Timah at a median S$2,056 per square foot, which was slightly below the S$2,085 per square foot median price in the OCR last month.

“The deluge of launches in July has led to cautious pricing not just among the newly launched projects, but also across projects which were previously launched,” said Lam Chern Woon, research and consulting head at Edmund Tie.

With no new projects launched in the city centre during July, home sales in what the URA terms the Core Central Region (CCR) fell by 21 percent compared with the previous month to total just 88 units – the lowest tally in the region in seven months.

The central region’s top-selling project was the 638-unit Leedon Green condo in District 10, which is being jointly developed by Hongkong Land’s MCL Land unit and Yanlord Group, where 14 units sold at a median S$2,827 per square foot. That rate was about 3 percent below the median selling price in the CCR last month.

Looking ahead, PropNex’s Wong said home sales across the city-state could dip this month “owing to the fewer units offered at August’s launches and as prospective buyers likely take more time to evaluate their options amidst more ample supply of unsold units.”

Prices Level Off

With plenty of new homes entering the market, coupled with a tighter financing environment and high construction costs, Lam said condo prices across the city-state could stay flat in the second half of the year after rising by 3.1 percent in the first six months of the year.

He expects Singapore will see a full-year home price increase of around 3 to 5 percent after notching an 8.6 percent jump in 2022.

“Nevertheless, the overall property market remains fairly stable, underpinned by a relatively tight labour market and organic housing demand,” Lam said.

With July’s surge of new project launches providing buyers with more bargaining power, home shoppers in Singapore may soon have additional options as more projects enter the pipeline.

Staying true to its promise of boosting private home supply, the URA on Tuesday launched tenders for two residential sites as part of its land sale programme for the second half of this year. Together the projects at Clementi Avenue 1 in Singapore’s southwest region and Pine Grove (Parcel B) in Bukit Timah are set to yield 1,065 new homes.