Singapore new home sales drop 35.4% to 203 units in October

This marks the lowest monthly tally this year.

According to PropNex Realty, Singapore’s rivate new home sales remained subdued in October, extending the slow sales in recent months. 

Developers sold 203 new homes (ex. EC) in October, marking a 6.5% decline from the 217 units shifted in the previous month, and sales were down by 35.4% year-on-year from 314 units sold in October 2022. The tepid sales came amid a dearth of new projects being launched during the month.

Here’s more from PropNex Realty:

At 203 units, October’s sales tally is the lowest in 2023, since 170 units were transacted in December 2022. This takes the number of new private homes sold (ex. EC) to 5,532 units in the first 10 months of 2023. Given the limited number of new launches till the end of the year, it looks quite certain that developers’ sales in 2023 will underperform the 7,099 units (ex. EC) sold in 2022. 

The Rest of Central Region (RCR) led sales in October, with developers selling 82 new units – up by 15.5% from the 71 units sold in the previous month. Sales in this sub-market were mainly driven by The Reserve Residences which sold 23 and Grand Dunman which moved 15 units at a median price of $2,361 psf and $2,452 psf, respectively. Pinetree Hill, The Landmark, and Liv @ MB also contributed to RCR sales in October. With the selling out of the final two units at the 774-unit One Pearl Bank in October, more buyers could turn towards the nearby The Landmark (which is 77% sold as at end-October) for available units. In addition, The Landmark is located within the Pearl’s Hill sub-zone, which will see more homes and amenities being added in the future, as per the recent announcement by the URA. The 85-unit Myra in Meyappa Chettiar Road also sold its last four units during the month.

New homes sales also rose in the Outside Central Region (OCR) where 76 new units were sold in October, representing an 8.6% increase from September. Lentor Hill Residences was the best-seller in October (see Table 2), selling 24 units at a median price of $2,116 psf. As at end-October, the 598-unit Lentor Hills Residences – which was launched in July 2023 – is about 70% sold. Other popular OCR projects in the month included Lentor Modern which transacted 13 units at a median price of $2,075 psf, The Arden which shifted 12 units at a median price of $1,816 psf, and The Lakegarden Residences where 9 units changed hands at a median price of $2,160 psf. Sales in the OCR is expected to surge in November on the strong sales at J’den and units sold at Hillock Green in Lentor Central which were put on the market recently.

In contrast, developers’ sales in the Core Central Region (CCR) fell by 40.8% from September to October to 45 units – the sub-market’s lowest monthly sales in more than 3 years since 41 new units changed hands in May 2020. The top-selling CCR project in October was Klimt Cairnhill which sold 11 units at a median price of $3,509 psf. Some key reasons for the slower sales in the CCR include the paring down of unsold stock on the market, and limited new projects as developers have largely held back on launching fresh CCR projects following the hike in the additional buyer’s stamp duty (ABSD) rates in April 2023. Watten House, which is expected to be launched later in November, will offer some additional options to buyers in the luxury homes segment.

Over in the EC market, developers sold 21 new ECs in October, falling sharply from the 118 units sold in the previous month, where Altura had boosted sales. In October, North Gaia transacted 18 units at a median price of $1,295 psf, while Altura shifted 3 units at a median price of $1,429 psf. 

Developers placed a total of 54 new units (ex. EC) for sale in October - down from the 68 units (ex. EC) launched in the previous month. There were no new units put on the market in the RCR as well as the EC segment during the month.