October new home sales drop 68.4% m-o-m to 312 units, the lowest since April 2020

SINGAPORE (EDGEPROP) - I​​n the month of October, developers sold 312 new homes excluding executive condominiums (ECs), representing a 68.4% plunge compared to the month before. This is the lowest number of units transacted in a single month since the 277 units sold in April 2020 during the “circuit breaker” period, says Mohan Sandrasegeran, senior analyst, research & content creation, at One Global Group. On a y-o-y basis, new home sales dropped by 65.8%.

The drop is underpinned by a lack of new project launches. In October, developers launched 102 new homes excluding ECs – the lowest number since September 2017, notes Lee Sze Teck, senior director, research, at Huttons Asia.

Copen Grand, the 639-unit EC at the upcoming Tengah estate, was the only notable launch in October. The development saw 480 (75%) of units snapped up during the month at a median price of $1,345 psf. Other launches were smaller affairs, comprising the landed Pollen Collection at Nim Road and boutique condominium Enchante at Evelyn Road.

Huttons’ Lee also notes that the low new home sales in October were also driven by “critically low unsold stock” in the market. “The estimated launched and unsold units stood at 2,031 as of end-October 2022. This limited the choices for buyers and capped the monthly sales,” he explains.

The Core Central Region (CCR) saw the highest number, or 54.8% of new homes sold, with 171 units transacted in October. The sales mostly came from Perfect Ten (37 units sold), Pullman Residences Newton (13 units sold), and Hyll On Holland (12 units sold). The homes were sold at median prices ranging from almost $2,800 psf to more than $3,000 psf, says Leonard Tay, head of research at Knight Frank.

The Rest of Central Region (RCR) saw 81 new homes sold at projects such as Riviere (16 units sold), One Pearl Bank (15 units sold) and The Landmark (12 units sold). Meanwhile, the Outside Central Region saw 60 new homes sold.

Including the monthly sales for October, developer sales excluding ECs total 6,721 units in the first 10 months of 2022. “Sales in November and December are estimated to be similar to October as unsold stock gets whittled down and there are no planned major launches,” notes Huttons’ Lee. He expects full-year sales to be capped at 7,500 units, with full-year price gains of around 10%.