Singapore private home sales fall for second consecutive month in May

Sales declined by 26.6% to 221 units during the month.

According to PropNex, Singapore’s new private home sales fell for the second straight month in May 2024 as a dearth of new project launches weighed on market activity. Developers sold 221 new units (excluding executive condos) in May, marking a 26.6% decline from the 301 units shifted in April. 

This follows the 58.1% month-on-month decrease in developers’ sales from March to April. It is also the lowest sales tally for the month of May recorded since 2008.

Here’s more from PropNex:

On a year-on-year basis, new home sales fell sharply by 78.7% from 1,039 units transacted in May 2023, where the launch of The Continuum and The Reserve Residences then had boosted sales. This takes the total new private homes sales in April and May 2024 to 522 units (ex. EC). With no major launches expected in June 2024, developers’ sales are likely to be tepid in Q2 2024 – looking certain to underperform the 1,164 new units sold in Q1 2024, and the 2,127 new units shifted in Q2 2023. 

In May 2024, developers launched 248 new units for sale, marking an 11% fall from the 278 units placed on the market in the previous month. There were three fresh projects rolled out in May, being the 190-unit luxury project Skywaters Residences in the Core Central Region, and two boutique developments Jansen House (21 units) and Straits at Joo Chiat (16 units) in the Outside Central Region.

The Outside Central Region (OCR) accounted for 64% of the May’s sales, with 141 units (ex. EC) sold – down by 6% from 150 units transacted in the previous month. The top-selling OCR projects in May included Lentor Hills Residences which sold 25 units at a median price of $2,164 psf, Hillhaven which shifted 23 units at a median price of $2,099 psf, and Hillock Green where 21 units were sold at a median price of $2,128 psf (see Table 2). Meanwhile, OCR boutique project new launches Jansen House sold 3 units at a median price of $2,098 psf, and 2 units were transacted at Straits at Joo Chiat at a median price of $2,091 psf.

Over in the Rest of Central Region (RCR), developers sold 53 new homes in May, representing a nearly 56% decline from 119 units in April. This is the fewest units of RCR new homes sold in a month since 48 units were transacted in January 2023. The best-selling RCR project in May was The Landmark which sold 14 units at a median price of $2,883 psf. This was followed by The Continuum which moved 10 units at a median price of $2,844 psf.

Meanwhile, developers’ sales in the Core Central Region (CCR) fell by about 16% MOM in May to 27 units. The two popular CCR projects in the month were 19 Nassim and Klimt Cairnhill where each sold 6 units at median prices of $3,373 psf and $3,317 psf, respectively. Of note, a 7,761-sq ft unit on the 57^th floor of Skywaters Residences in Tanjong Pagar was sold for $47.3 million or $6,100 psf – making it the record high $PSF price for a 99-year leasehold new non-landed private residential project.  

In the EC segment, new sales fell by nearly 22% from 51 units in April to 40 units in May. North Gaia was the top-selling EC project in the month, transacting 20 units at a median price of $1,338 psf. According to URA’s figures, there are 299 unsold new EC units on the market as at end-May.