Singapore private residential launches up by 23% in Q1

Launches in the OCR alone grew by 19.8%.

Savills Research revealed that the number of private residential units launched has rebounded in the first quarter, increasing 23% quarter-on-quarter (QoQ).

This growth was attributed to the Rest of Central Region (RCR) and Outside Central Region (OCR). Across the three market segments, the OCR saw an increase by 19.8% QoQ, whilst the RCR saw an increase of 174 units from Q4/2023 (50 units) to Q1/2024 (224 units).

Here’s more from Savills:

Launches in Core Central Region (CCR) declined significantly by 84% in Q1/2024, the lowest in six years since Q3/2018. A mere 20 units were launched in Q1/2024 compared to 125 units launched in Q4/2023. In Q3/2018, only 19 units were launched.

Take-up rate for these new releases was also slower, even though there were more launched units and new launches this quarter. Compared to Q4/2023, where two of the three new launches recorded more than half of their total units sold in the quarter of launch, only Lentor Mansion recorded a strong take-up rate of 76%, while the other new launches only had around 3% to 30% of their units sold. Lentoria, another new launch in the quarter, had a take-up rate of 22.5%.

This large discrepancy in numbers could imply that buyers were adopting a ‘wait-and-see’ approach and being more discerning and cautious in their purchasing decisions as uncertain economic conditions persist.

Secondary sales had also fallen for the third consecutive quarter by a larger margin at 5.4% QoQ in Q1/2024, compared to less than 1% in the last two quarters.

All three market segments recorded declines in secondary sales volume, with secondary sales in RCR experiencing the largest contraction, falling 6.5% QoQ. Secondary sales in CCR and OCR also decreased for the second consecutive quarter by 5.7% and 4.8% QoQ respectively in Q1. For CCR, this was the lowest in five years since Q2/2020 when the pandemic struck and borders were closed, resulting in a lack of demand from foreign buyers, which make up a large proportion of CCR home purchases.

New sales rebounded in Q1/2024, a turnaround after a decline in the previous quarter. New sales volume rose 6.6% QoQ. However, on a yearly basis, this was still a 7.3% decrease.

Most (70.7%) of the new sales in the quarter was from OCR, while new sales in RCR and CCR comprised 20.2% and 9.1% of total new sales respectively.

George Tan, Managing Director, Livethere Residential, Savills Singapore says, “While the resale market may have declined, ground activities and viewings are still healthy. We are optimistic that new sales volume may improve in the later part of the year. With more projects in the pipeline that will be launching this year and the possibility of lower interest rates in the second half, potential homebuyers may be holding out and adopting a wait-and-see approach to purchasing decisions.”