Resale condo prices between Singapore’s prime districts and city fringe achieve smallest gap in 22 years

The median price per square foot narrowed to 17.5% in Q3.

A report from OrangeTee revealed that overall prices for resale homes in Singapore rebounded slightly as prices picked up across all three market segments in Q3 2023. 

According to the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) Realis data, the average price of resale private homes excluding executive condominiums (EC) rose by 0.9 per cent from S$1,616 psf in Q2 2023 to S$1,631 psf in Q3 2023 (Chart 1), reversing the 0.4 per cent decline in the preceding quarter. Average resale prices in the landed segment rose 13.1 per cent quarter-on-quarter (q-o-q) in Q3 2023, whereas resale prices dipped by 0.9 per cent q-o-q for the non-landed segment. 

Here’s more from OrangeTee:

Resale prices of non-landed and landed homes (exclude EC) in the prime districts or Core Central Region (CCR) grew marginally by 0.3 per cent from S$2,080 psf in Q2 2023 to S$2,087 psf in Q3 2023 (Chart 2). Over the same period, prices in the city fringe or Rest of Central Region (RCR) increased by 1.3 per cent from S$1,722 psf to S$1,744 psf, while those in the suburbs or Outside of Central Region (OCR) rose by 2.2 per cent from S$1,391 psf to S$1,421 psf.

The median price per square foot (psf) gap between non-landed resale homes (exclude EC) in CCR and those in RCR narrowed further to 17.5 per cent in Q3 2023, from 24.1 per cent in Q2 2023 and 27.5 per cent in Q1 2023. Last quarter’s price gap was the smallest since Q3 2001 at 14.5 per cent. Comparatively, within the last decade, the widest price gap hit 53.9 per cent in Q2 2020 (Chart 3). 

The price gap narrowed substantially as the median price of non-landed resale homes in RCR grew much faster than those in CCR in recent years. After the onset of the pandemic, median prices of resale condos in CCR rose by 13.6 per cent since the start of the pandemic, from S$1,771 psf in Q3 2020 to S$2,011 psf in Q3 2023 over 13 quarters. The median prices of resale condos in RCR jumped by 26.8 per cent from S$1,349 psf to S$1,711 psf over the same periods. 

Comparatively, median prices of resale condos in CCR climbed faster over a 13-quarter period prior to the onset of pandemic by 15.0 per cent from S$1,775 psf in Q2 2017 to S$2,042 psf in Q2 2020. Median prices in RCR rose by 8.5 per cent from S$1,223 psf to S$1,327 psf. 

The faster price appreciation in RCR may be attributed to more condominiums obtaining their TOP (temporary occupation permit) in recent years, and newly TOP projects tend to fetch higher resale prices than older units. For instance, around 12,800 units obtained TOP in RCR from 2020 to 1H2023, surpassing the estimated 3,300 units in CCR. Moreover, demand is stronger for private homes in the city fringe since they are still more affordable than luxury homes. Many homes in the prime location are tenanted too.