New private home sales fall to 217 units in September, lowest monthly figure year

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September saw the lowest monthly private home sales this year, with 217 new homes sold excluding executive condos (ECs). This marked a 44.9% decrease from the 394 units the month before. A total of 68 new homes were launched for sale in September, down 88.5% from the 590 units launched in August.

Tricia Song, head of research for Singapore and Southeast Asia at CBRE, notes the September figures represents a second consecutive fall m-o-m, with the lower sales “within expectation”. Christine Sun, senior vice president of research and analytics at OrangeTee & Tie, attributes this to there being no big project launches during the period, as well as the housing market usually quiets down during the lunar seventh month, which ended in mid-September.

Chia Siew Chuin, head of residential research, research and consultancy at JLL, comments that buyers have more discerning in their choices in view of the “plethora of options” available in the market. This is also compounded by market headwinds, with the new home sales tally declining by 7.5% y-o-y despite 93.4% more new units launched in 3Q2023 compared to a year ago.

ECs remain the bright spot in the property market, with developers selling an estimated 118 EC units last month, lower than the 255 units sold in August. This can be attributed to buyers looking for the next best alternative to private homes due to being given upfront remission on additional buyer’s stamp duty.

The Core Central Region (CCR) accounted for 76 units or 35% of total sales in September, beating the Rest of Central Region (RCR) which made up 71 units (33%), and the Outside Central Region (OCR), which made up 70 units (32%). Non-landed new private homes sold in the CCR rose by 10.5% m-o-m to $3,151 psf in September, due to higher prices at projects including Midtown Bay, Midtown Modern, Perfect Ten, Leedon Green and Orchard Sophia.

The top-selling projects in the RCR were Grand Dunman, The Reserve Residences, and The Continuum, while in the OCR, top-seller was Lentor Hill Residences.

Huttons Asia notes that foreigners purchased 13 new private homes in September, inching up from the 10 units recorded in August. Nine condos were sold for at least $5 million, with units coming from Midtown Modern, Klimt Cairnhill, Park Nova and Terra Hill. The highest-price single transaction recorded in September was the sale of a 2,164 sq ft unit at Dalvey Haus for $7 million ($3,235 psf).

Looking ahead, Lam Chern Woon, head of research and consulting at Edmund Tie, remains “cautiously sanguine” on the sale outlook for the rest of the year, given a line-up of launches expected in 4Q2023. Leonard Tay, head of research at Knight Frank Singapore, estimates new home sales in 2023 to come in just shy of 7,000 units. Notable projects in the pipeline include J’den in Jurong East, Hillock Green in Lentor and Watten House in Bukit Timah.