Singapore new private home sales down 24% to 1,211 units in August

Sep 13, 2021

NEW private home sales slipped in August after hitting a six-month high the previous month. Based on caveats lodged, analysts estimated that developers in Singapore sold 1,211 new private homes in August, down 23.8 per cent from July's 1,589 units.

Despite the lower numbers, Ismail Gafoor, chief executive officer of PropNex, said last month's sales were "relatively healthy".

"It demonstrated the market's resiliency in spite of the lack of new launches, the Hungry Ghost Festival as well as the Phase 2 (Heightened Alert) restrictions from 22 July to 18 August," he said.

Typically, the "hungry ghosts" month is a quiet period for the property market.

Comparing year on year, the estimates are 3.7 per cent lower than the 1,258 new private homes sold in August 2020.

Nicholas Mak, head of research and consultancy at ERA, noted that there was just one launch in August, compared to the three in the same month last year.

Excluding executive condominiums (ECs), last month's only launch was The Watergardens at Canberra, which sold nearly 60 per cent or of its 448 units at a median price of S$1,469 per square foot (psf) over its launch weekend.

The project was also best-selling in August, making up about 22 per cent of the month's new home sales, noted Mr Gafoor.

He said: "Owing to the lack of new launches, buyers continued to pick up new homes from past projects. They also have attractive prices compared to recent launches which have higher benchmark prices. Buyers have also felt more compelled to enter the market now due to news of anticipated rising prices for future project launches."

Including executive condominiums (ECs), which are public-private housing hybrids, the tally reached 1,317 units, down 24.5 per cent from sales in the previous month and 0.6 per cent from that of August last year.

In terms of price, homes in the S$1million to S$1.5 million range led the month by making up 38.2 per cent of transactions, excluding ECs. Some 28.3 per cent of homes purchased cost S$1.5 million to S$2 million, while 18.7 per cent of transactions were for new homes in the S$2 million to S$3 million bracket.

The outside central region (OCR) continued to lead the month, making up 59.4 per cent of new home sales, excluding ECs, in August.

Meanwhile, the rest of central region (RCR) and core central region (CCR) accounted for 28.1 per cent and 12.6 per cent respectively, data from OrangeTee & Tie showed.

Mark Yip, chief executive officer of Huttons Asia, also noted that seven out of the top 10 best-selling projects in August were OCR projects.

"This is a clear indication of the strong demand generated from the buoyant HDB (Housing Development Board) flats' resale market," he said.

Mr Gafoor added that sales in the RCR will soon pick up due to the launches of Bartley Vue in early September and Canninghill Piers scheduled for the third quarter of the year.

However, Mr Mak noted that OCR sales eased by 29 per cent from that of July.

He said: "Bucking the trend, property developers managed to sell more new homes in the CCR in August despite having no new launches in the prime districts. While this is partly due to more marketing efforts, some buyers are also attracted to the CCR properties as the price difference between CCR and RCR housing narrows."

"If the pandemic in Singapore could be kept under control and the government does not implement another Circuit Breaker, new home sales for 2021 might be able to exceed 10,000 units, returning to the level before the 2018 cooling measures," Mr Mak added.

Meanwhile, Mr Gafoor said: "The overall property market and new home sales market is expected to improve in September following the further relaxation of Covid safe management restrictions as Singapore transitions into endemic living. For the whole of 2021, we project that new private home sales, excluding ECs, could exceed 12,000 units, barring any unforeseen events and new cooling measures."

Mr Yip added: "Unsold stock in the market may possibly hit a low of 14,000 in Q4 2021, the lowest-level ever based on URA's (Urban Redevelopment Authority) numbers."