Singapore Private Home Price Growth Slows to 1.1% as Sales Flatten

Flash data showed that Singapore’s private home prices rose 1.1 percent in the second quarter of 2024, easing from 1.4 percent growth in the first three months of the year as transaction volume remained flat, according to the Urban Redevelopment Authority.

The quarterly average price increase was 1.3 percent in the first half, lower than the quarterly average of 1.7 percent in 2023 and 2.1 percent in 2022, the URA said Monday in a release. Private home prices rose by a cumulative 2.5 percent in the first six months of the year, down from a 3.1 percent increase in the first half of 2023.

Some 4,215 private homes were transacted in the second quarter, barely changed compared with the 4,230 sold during the first quarter.

“Overall, macroeconomic conditions are sound, but the economic outlook is subject to uncertainties, particularly stemming from ongoing geopolitical conflicts that could precipitate negative global supply and demand shocks,” the URA said. “Domestic mortgage rates are expected to remain elevated relative to the low levels seen over the past decade.”

No Mainstream Launches

Private home sales, and developer sales in particular, were muted during the second quarter by the limited number of new projects launched, said Ismail Gafoor, CEO of local broker PropNex Realty.

“Many of the fresh launches during the quarter have been boutique developments that offer fewer units, while the project with the largest number of units launched in Q2 was the 190-unit Skywaters Residences, which is at the top end of the market and unlikely to fit the budget of most buyers here,” Gafoor said in a release.

In May, Skywaters recorded a single sale of a 7,761 square foot (721 square metre) unit on the 57th floor of the development at 8 Shenton Way, a joint venture of Alibaba and Perennial Holdings, with the home transacting for S$47.3 million ($35 million) or S$6,100 per square foot.

Within the non-landed private homes segment, prices in the Core Central Region — a proxy for luxury home buyers — fell 0.2 percent in the second quarter from a high base of 3.4 percent growth in the first quarter.

The city-fringe Rest of Central Region and the suburban Outside Central Region saw non-landed private home prices rise 2.2 percent and 0.3 percent respectively in the April-June quarter. Prices in the OCR could possibly be peaking in view of two straight quarters of marginal growth, according to PropNex.

Standout Districts

The three Singapore districts with the highest developer sales during the second quarter were northern districts 23 and 26 and District 15 on the lower eastern coast, said Lee Sze Teck, senior director of data analytics at Huttons.

The best-selling projects in District 23 were Hillhaven, a joint development of Sekisui House and Far East Organization; Sim Lian Group’s The Botany at Dairy Farm; and City Developments Ltd’s The Myst. Of the 1,135 units in District 23, more than 66 percent or 757 units have been sold, with buyers drawn to private residential enclaves and proximity to nature, Lee said.

The Lentor precinct in District 26 reported the second-most sales, led by Lentor Hills Residences, a joint venture of GuocoLand, Hong Leong and Mitsui Fudosan; Hillock Green, a JV of China Communications Construction Company, Yanlord Land Group’s United Engineers and local builder Soilbuild; and GuocoLand and Hong Leong’s Lentor Mansion. Of the 2,477 units in Lentor, more than 75 percent or 1,877 units have been sold.

“The absence of a new launch for more than 10 years may have led to pent-up demand and the creation of a private residential enclave in Lentor could have appealed to many buyers,” Lee said.

The best-selling projects in District 15 were SingHaiyi Group’s Grand Dunman, CDL and MCL Land’s Tembusu Grand and Hoi Hup Realty and Sunway’s The Continuum.