Singapore Home Sales Drop 73% in June on Dearth of New Projects

After climbing for five consecutive months, Singapore new private home sales plunged to 278 units last month as a dearth of major condo launches dragged deals to their lowest level since December 2022.

Developer sales, excluding executive condominiums, dropped by 73 percent last month from the 1,355 condos sold in May, and were down 43 percent from the 488 units transacted a year ago, based on data from Singapore’s Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA). June saw the fewest homes sold since last December, when only 650 units changed hands, after developers held back launches to avoid the school holidays.

“Developers’ sales are supply-led, typically driven by new launches that come on and may fluctuate substantially from month to month, depending on the availability of new projects in the given month,” said Wong Siew Ying, research and content at PropNex Realty. “With a steady pipeline of new launches to come, we expect the new home sales market to be lively, supported by sensitive pricing on the part of developers.”

Wong expects sales to bounce back this month with four major condo launches having already sold more than 1,100 units on their launch weekends in July, led by SingHaiYi Group’s fast-moving Grand Dunman project in the Katong area.

Launches Hit All-Time Low

Knight Frank traced the sharp drop in sales to developers having launched just 31 units in June, marking the lowest monthly quantity of new homes since the data series became available in 2007. During May builders had introduced 1,595 condos to the market.

The 17-unit Lavender Residences in the Kallang suburbs was the sole project launched last month, and saw eight units snapped up at a median price of S$1,972 per square foot.

For the first six months of 2023, new private home sales totalled 3,423 units or 19 percent less than the 4,222 condos that changed hands during the same period last year, based on URA data.

New home price growth remained elevated despite muted sales as median home prices across the city-state climbed by 5.1 percent in June from a month earlier to reach to S$2,686 per square foot, according to Edmund Tie.

All three regions of the city-state recorded lower monthly sales, but suburban projects remained the most popular with 147 units sold to account for more than half of the month’s overall sales. Despite no major projects launches, Far East Organization’s The Reserve Residences and The Continuum by Hoi Hup Realty and Sunway Developments in Geylang both recorded new sales.

There were 112 units transacted in the city centre, tagged by the URA as the Core Central Region (CCR), with the region, which is popular among foreigners, seen as a proxy for the luxury market.

In city-fringe locations, limited unsold inventory and the impact of tighter home sale policies continued to temper transactions in the Outside Central Region, where only 19 units were sold in June, according to PropNex.

“Homebuyer activity is very much alive, especially for suburban homes,” said Leonard Tay, research head at Knight Frank Singapore. “Demand for such units in the remaining months of 2023 will continue to be underpinned by homebuyers purchasing for their own occupation, as household balance sheets remain healthy.”

More Homes on the Way

Despite a quiet market in June, property analysts said Singapore’s housing market remained attractive for homebuyers and investors as seen in the performance of the four projects launched so far this month.

SingHaiyi sold 520 units, or more than half of the 1,008 condos available, at its Grand Dunman project during its launch weekend on 15-16 July. During the same two days, about 150 condos were sold at the 520-unit Pinetree Hill in Bukit Timah with the project by UOL Group and its Singapore Land Group subsidiary finding buyers for 29 percent of its units.

A week earlier, homebuyers booked half of the 598 homes launched in the Lentor Hills Residences, developed by a GuocoLand-led consortium in the Lentor estate in Ang Mo Kio. City Developments Ltd in Bukit Timah recorded a lower take-up rate of 27 percent for its 408-unit The Myst project which also debuted that weekend.

“Our observations suggest that there is still keen interest in new private homes amongst buyers and demand remains relatively resilient,” Wong from PropNex said. “Sales of new private homes from the July launches are also encouraging, drawing in buyers despite more new projects being lined up in August, and beyond.”

One of the largest projects slated for launch next month is the 306-unit The Lake Garden Residences project being developed by Wing Tai in Jurong East.

Smaller projects debuting in August are the 78-condo Orchard Sophia near the Orchard shopping district, the 105-unit The Arden in Bukit Batok, and the Mattar Residences in Geylang, which will offer 26 new homes.