Singapore vacant residential stock records biggest quarterly drop since 2009

Vacant stock declined 12% to 20,299 units in Q1 2022.

A total of 819 private residential units in Singapore obtained their Temporary Occupation Permits (TOPs) in the first quarter of the year. According to Savills, this was a sharp QoQ decline of 60.1% when over 2,000 units were completed in the previous quarter. The bulk of the new completions in the quarter came from Parc Botannia (378 units) and Juniper Hill (115 units). 

Savills adds, “Apart from the abovementioned developments, two other smaller projects were completed in the quarter, namely Meyerhouse in RCR (56 units) and Petit Jervois in CCR (55 units). With the addition of the new completions, islandwide stock of private residential properties inched up marginally by 0.2% QoQ to 382,978 units in Q1/2022.”

Here’s more from Savills:

As completion numbers remained low and rental demand remained strong, vacant stock declined significantly by 12.0% QoQ to 20,299 units in the quarter. This was the largest quarterly decline since Q4/2009 when vacant stock fell 19.9% on a QoQ basis. 

Correspondingly, the vacancy rate fell for a second consecutive quarter by a larger 0.7 of a ppt to 5.3%, the lowest since Q2/2011 when it stood at 5.1%. Much of the decline came from a QoQ decrease of 0.9 of a ppt in the vacancy rate of non-landed homes from 6.3% in Q4/2021 to 5.4%. The vacancy rate of landed homes remained unchanged at 4.7%. 

Across the three market segments, the vacancy rate declined with the RCR recording the first quarterly decrease of 0.9 of a ppt to 6.1% in Q1/2022. The largest contraction in vacancy was in the CCR which saw a 1.2 ppts fall from 9.3% in Q4/2021 to 8.1% in Q1/2022. This may be due to the lack of significant completions in the area in recent quarters.