Why Singapore’s private residential stock only increased marginally

The stock inched up by just 0.1% to 420,142 units in Q2.

According to a Savills report, the completion of new private residential properties (excluding ECs) continued to moderate in Q2/2025, with only 341 units receiving their TOPs during the quarter. Among these, Mori - a 137-unit freehold apartment located in District 14 along Guillemard Road - was the largest project.

“The remaining developments completed during the quarter were relatively small in scale. As a result, the island-wide stock of completed private residential properties rose by just 0.1% QoQ (273 units) to 420,142 units in Q2/2025,” the report added.

Here’s more from Savills:

On the other hand, the number of vacant private residential units stood at 30,027 units in Q2/2025, representing a substantial 10.5% QoQ increase, or 2,858 units. This reverted the declines observed in the previous two quarters. By market segment, the OCR accounted for the largest share of the increase in vacant stock at 60.3% (1,722 units), followed by the RCR at 24.9% (713 units) and CCR at 14.8% (423 units).

Consequently, the island-wide vacancy rate rose by 0.6 percentage points (ppts), upping from the 6.5% recorded in Q1/2025 to 7.1% in Q2/2025. Vacancy rates also increased across all market segments, rising by 0.4, 0.6 and 0.9 ppts in the CCR, RCR and OCR, respectively.

The last surge in vacant stock was recorded in Q3/2024, mainly due to the substantial number of private residential unit completions during that quarter. In contrast, new completions in Q2/2025 were minimal. Therefore, the significant increase in vacant stock during this period is likely attributed to the relatively slow take-up of units in projects completed since Q3/2024.

A study of leasing activity in non-landed developments completed since Q3/2024 reveals that, as of June 2025, only about 21.3% of total units in these developments had been leased. Another contributing factor could be tenant movement from the OCR to the RCR and CCR, attracted by more competitive rental rates in these traditionally more central locations. This may also explain why the increase in vacant stock was most pronounced in the OCR.