Singapore’s private new home sales rise 9% m-o-m to 909 units in October, up 39% y-o-y

(Credit: Samuel Isaac Chua/ The Edge Singapore)

SINGAPORE (EDGEPROP) - Singapore’s private new home sales rebounded by 9% from 834 units in September to 909 units in October, following two consecutive monthly declines.

To slow down the spread of Covid-19, the government imposed viewing restrictions and a cap on visitor capacities at show galleries. However, “despite these strict community safe distancing measures and no major project launches, housing demand remained resilient last month,” notes Christine Sun, senior vice-president of research & analytics at OrangeTee & Tie.

Including ECs, new home sales fell by 19.4% m-o-m to 1,045 units. However, despite the decline in sales, the figure is still the highest monthly sales (including ECs) for October in five years, notes Sun, which indicates “resilience in the property market”. Compared to a year ago, new sales (including ECs) have risen by 50.6%.

Already, an estimated 10,918 new private homes have been sold in the first 10 months of the year, surpassing the 9,982 units sold for the whole of 2020.
Demand has been observed to hold up well across all market segments in October. The Outside Central Region (OCR) registered 38.2% of total sales (excluding ECs), followed by the Rest of Central Region (RCR) and the Core Central Region (CCR), at 30.9%.

“Some developers of CCR residential projects are renewing their marketing efforts as Singapore gradually eases travel restrictions and more foreign buyers could come to Singapore,” comments Nicholas Mak, head of research & consultancy department at ERA Realty Network.
“Furthermore, more buyers’ attention could shift to the CCR projects as the available stock of unsold units in suburban residential projects gradually decreased,” he adds.

Jervois Mansion was the best-selling project in October, experiencing a near sell-out of its 104 launched units at median price of $2,553 psf. This is followed by Normanton Park, which sold 73 units at a median price of $1,839 psf.

“Buyers were likely drawn to the Jervois Mansion’s attractive price point of below $2,800 psf for District 10 new launches and its expansive land area,” notes Tricia Song, head of research, Southeast Asia, CBRE.

“The strong sales at Jervois Mansion shows keen demand for affordable units in the prime districts. Its median absolute price of $2.1 million is close to the median price of new units transacted in District 10 in 2021 to date. Buyers are drawn to its attractive prime location near the city and Orchard Road,” notes Ong Teck Hui, senior director of research & consultancy at JLL.

In the EC segment, Parc Greenwich sold 84 more units at a median price of $1,251 psf.

A notable transaction in October include a penthouse unit at Shun Tak’s ultra-luxury development, Les Maisons Nassim that was sold for $75 mil or $6,210 psf in October, making it the most expensive new non-landed private residential property purchased on a psf basis since 2011, when two units at The Marq on Paterson Hill were sold at $20.54 million ($6,650 psf) and $19.20 million ($6,215 psf) respectively, observes Song.

Demand outstrips supply; property market expected to remain buoyant

Demand for private properties outstripped supply across all market segments, Song adds. The number of launched but unsold units (excluding ECs) fell from 7,233 units in January to 4,725 units in October. The OCR experienced the most significant decline of 49.7%, from 2,762 units to 1,388 units. Meanwhile in the RCR, launched but unsold units declined by 48.6% from 3,073 units to 1,578 units over the same period. (Browse newly launched condos in Singapore right now)

Consultants foresee a buoyant market in November and December, with several projects slated to launch by this year. These include The Commodore, Canninghill Piers and Cairnhill 16, which are located in the OCR, RCR and CCR respectively, says Mak. The Mori, a 137-unit residential development in Geylang, is also slated for launch in 4Q2021.

“As more countries continue to get added into Singapore’s Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) programme, developer sales, especially in the CCR could be boosted due to the return of foreign demand. Furthermore, as Singapore transitions into endemic living, Covid-19 curbs would no longer pose a headwind for developer sales,” points out Song.

CBRE expects private home prices to rise by 6% to 7% and expects total developer sales to come in between 11,000 to 12,000 units for the full year.

Check out the latest listings near Jervois Mansion, Normanton Park, Parc Greenwich, Les Maisons Nassim, The Marq on Paterson Hill, The Commodore, Canninghill Piers, Cairnhill 16