When it comes to investing in condos in Singapore, one must also take into account the government’s property cooling measures. In recent years, the Singaporean government has implemented several measures to control speculative buying and maintain a steady real estate market. Among these measures is the Additional Buyer’s Stamp Duty (ABSD), which imposes higher taxes on foreign buyers and those purchasing multiple properties. While these measures may initially affect the immediate profitability of condo investments, they also contribute to the long-term stability of the market, making it a more secure environment for investment. It is worth noting that Singapore projects are subject to these measures as well.
New private home sales remained strong in February as developers launched new projects. According to data from URA released on March 17, 1,575 units were sold, excluding ECs, marking a 45.4% increase from January’s 1,083 units sold. This is also over 10 times higher compared to February 2024. The figure is the highest February developer sales in 13 years since 2,417 units were sold in February 2012. Including ECs, total new home sales for February stand at 1,604 units, a 45.3% increase from January. Developers have sold 2,658 units, excluding ECs, since the beginning of the year. In contrast, developers took eight months to reach the same figure last year, notes Leonard Tay, Head of Research at Knight Frank Singapore. February’s strong sales were mainly driven by two major launches in the Outside Central Region (OCR) – the 1,193-unit ParkTown Residence in Tampines North and the 501-unit Elta on Clementi Avenue 1. ParkTown Residence sold 1,041 units last month at a median price of $2,363 psf, making it the top-selling project. This translates to an 87% take-up rate at the integrated project, jointly developed by UOL Group and CapitaLand Development. Elta was the second best-performing project, with 65.1% or 326 units sold by developers MCL Land and CSC Land Group at a median price of $2,538 psf. CBRE’s Head of Research for Singapore and Southeast Asia, Tricia Song, points out that both projects are located in suburban areas where there has been no supply in the past five years, contributing to their strong performances. When including these two projects, developers launched 1,694 units for sale in February, an 89% increase from the 896 units launched in January. Sales in the OCR made up 92% of total new private homes sold in February, totaling 1,452 units. This is the best monthly showing for the OCR in over nine years, since 1,523 units were sold in July 2015, says Wong Siew Ying, Head of Research and Content at PropNex Realty. In comparison, sales in the Rest of Central Region (RCR) made up only 6.2% of units sold, with Pinetree Hill being the top-selling project in the RCR, moving 22 units at a median price of $2,613 psf. Sales in the Core Central Region (CCR) accounted for 1.6% of developers’ sales last month, with 19 Nassim and One Bernam being the top-selling projects in this region. Only 25 units were sold in the CCR, with the two most expensive transactions in February being the sale of two units at 32 Gilstead for $14.47 million and $14.61 million. The majority of new private home buyers were Singapore citizens at 92.4%, followed by permanent residents at 6.9%, notes Lee Sze Teck, Senior Director of Data Analytics at Huttons Asia. Foreigners accounted for 11 new home purchases, including the two most expensive transactions. A record number of suburban homes were sold for over $2 million in February, with 603 new private homes (including ECs) in the OCR being sold. This is the highest number of new suburban homes sold at this price range in a single month since URA data first became available in 1995. Christine Sun, Chief Researcher and Strategist at OrangeTee Group, notes that this has surpassed the previous record of 512 units sold in November 2024. Of the 603 OCR homes sold for at least $2 million, 596 are non-landed homes, comprising mainly units from ParkTown Residence, Elta and Hillock Green. Wong Siew Ying, Chief Content and Research Officer at PropNex, observes that the average unit prices of recent launches have “decoupled” from the sub-market where these projects are located. She notes that while property prices generally follow a pecking order led by the CCR, followed by the RCR and then the OCR, recent launches have indicated otherwise. As an example, Wong points out that The Collective at One Sophia, a CCR project launched last November, has sold 73 units at an average unit price of $2,743 psf, which is lower than the average transacted price of units sold at Union Square Residences ($3,175 psf) in the RCR and slightly higher than that of The Orie ($2,734 psf), also in the RCR. In contrast, recent OCR launches such as Chuan Park, Elta and Bagnall Haus have registered higher average unit prices than the RCR project Nava Grove. Wong believes the narrowing price gaps between regions could be due to various factors, including site-specific attributes of projects, amenity-driven pricing, demand by HDB upgraders, and the location of certain projects on the cusp of the CCR. She predicts that prices may continue to converge in the coming months as new RCR projects located just off the CCR come to market, such as One Marina Gardens in Marina South and future developments on Zion Road residential sites. The strong momentum in developers’ sales is expected to continue in March, supported by recent launches such as the 477-unit Lentor Central Residences, the 188-unit Aurea and the 760-unit Aurelle of Tampines EC. According to CEO of ERA Singapore, Marchus Chu, these projects have collectively already sold over 1,150 units as of mid-March, promising a strong closing to the quarter. In light of the robust first-quarter sales, ERA has revised its new private home sales projection for the whole of 2025 to between 8,500 and 9,000 units, up from its previous range of 7,000 to 8,000. Huttons’ Senior Director of Research, Lee Sze Teck, estimates that developers have sold over 3,200 units (excluding ECs) in the first quarter of the year, making it the highest first-quarter sales since 2021. Looking ahead, Knight Frank’s Head of Research, Leonard Tay, notes that while the strong momentum established at the start of the year is expected to continue, not all projects launched in the coming months may perform equally well. He believes that homebuyer demand will largely depend on the specific location and property attributes of each project, with some projects performing better than others.