These two projects will drive Singapore’s new home sales in November

It’s expected to be the strongest month of sales in Q4.

Singapore’s new home sales were once again lacklustre in October, as transactions fell for the third consecutive month to 203 units, following the blockbuster sales performance in July where 1,413 new homes were sold. 

According to Wong Siew Ying, Head of Research & Content, PropNex Realty, although the buying sentiment has been fairly tentative in the past couple of months, there werehealthy turnouts at recent previews, and new launches J’den in Jurong East and Hillock Green in Lentor Central collectively sold more than 450 new units when they were put on the market over the weekend.

Here’s more from Wong of PropNex Realty:

Specifically, J’den booked robust sales, shifting about 88% of its total 368 units at an average price of $2,451 psf, while Hillock Green sold more than 27% of its 474 units at an average price of $2,108 psf – an encouraging performance in the Lentor area which has ample upcoming housing supply. Going by buyers’ response and recent government land sales tenders, it seems that the residential property market is still relatively resilient and market confidence remains intact even though sales have been muted in the past months. In addition, the tepid primary market sales could be partly due to the paring down of unsold stock and limited number of smaller units available.

Our observations suggest that while buyers are cautious, they are also open to considering projects that are well-located, within walking distance to the MRT station and amenities, are sensitively-priced, and could offer potential upside in the future. With more new launches slated to come on in 2024, some buyers may be saving their bullets for upcoming projects. Based on our preliminary estimates, some 20 new projects could be rolled out in the first half of next year, including Hillhaven in Hillview Rise, The Arcady at Boon Keng, The Hill @ One North, Lentoria, Marina View Residences, and Lumina Grand EC amongst others.

The proportion of non-landed new private home sales (ex. EC) to foreigners (non-PR) rose to 7% in October from 5.8% in the previous month (see Table 1). In absolute terms, there were 14 transactions to foreigners in October, up slightly from 12 transactions in September. The number is still substantially below the average of about 52 transactions to foreigners per month in the first four months of 2023. The government had hiked the ABSD rates from 27 April 2023, which in our view has been effective in taming foreign investment demand. There was an average of 16 non-landed new private home sales transactions to foreigners per month between May and October (both months inclusive). Meanwhile, the proportion of new non-landed private homes purchased by Singaporean buyers rose to more than 84% in October – local demand will continue to account for a lion’s share of home sales.

In November, developers’ sales are expected to spike due to the transactions at J’den and Hillock Green, and it would likely be the strongest month of sales in Q4 2023 where the primary market is concerned. For now, we are not anticipating any further major project launches in December, in what is typically a seasonal lull for property sales given the school holidays and year-end festivities. We project that new private home sales (ex. EC) in the full-year 2023 could come in at around 6,500 to 7,000 units (ex. EC), though it is likely to be nearer to the lower end of our forecast.”