Singapore new private home sales expected to be lacklustre in Q2

Sales could underperform Q1 levels of 1,164 units.

New private home sales in Singapore were muted in May, posting the lowest developers’ sales in three months. The softer sales were not unexpected according to PropNex, owing to the limited number of new launches. 

“Of the fresh projects launched in May, two are boutique developments with fewer units, while Skywaters Residences, being a high-end project in the city centre, is probably above the budget of the majority of the home buyers here,” said Wong Siew Ying, Head of Research & Content, PropNex Realty.

Here’s more from PropNex:

Apart from the 533-unit Lentor Mansion which was launched in March, the new projects that came on thus far have been much smaller. It is likely that many prospective home buyers are waiting for more projects to be launched, so that they can make comparisons before deciding on their property purchase. 

Developers’ sales will likely remain soft in June 2024, in view of a lack of project launches, as well as the school holidays where there tend to be a lull in transactions as many families travel abroad. Therefore, we expect new private home sales in Q2 2024 to be lacklustre, possibly falling short of that of Q1 2024 (1,164 units), as well as Q2 2023’s sales (2,127 units).

We could see more activity in Q3 2024, although developers are likely to avoid launching projects during the Ghost Month (4 August to 2 September). OCR projects, the 440-unit Sora in Jurong East and 276-unit Kassia in Flora Drive are expected to be launched for sale in July. Several other medium to large projects could also potentially hit the market in Q3 2024, including Emerald of Katong (847 units), Meyer Blue (226 units), The Chuan Park (916 units), and the Bukit Timah Link project (160 units).

In view of the limited number of new launches of late, existing projects on the market have continued to pare down on their unsold stock. Lentor Hills Residences, which was launched in July 2023, was the best-selling project in May 2024. Notably, three other projects in Lentor – Hillock Green, Lentor Mansion, and Lentoria – also made the top-10 sales list for the month.

These four Lentor developments, along with the integrated project Lentor Modern (launched in Sep 2022) have collectively sold about 75% of their total units (1,855 out of 2,477 units), based on URA Realis caveat data (up till 9 June) – perhaps allaying to some extent the initial concerns about a potential supply glut in that neighbourhood. A sixth project in Lentor Central which can yield an estimated 475 units is yet to be launched for sale, after the site was awarded in September 2023.