Private residential units sold by developers in May 2023

SINGAPORE, 15 June 2023 - On 15 June 2023, the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) released the data on developer sales for the month of May 2023.

A summary of the launches and sales is provided in the Appendix.

Ms. Chia Siew Chuin, Head of Residential Research, Research & Consultancy at JLL

谢岫君, 私宅市场研究部主管 (新加坡) commented:

“Developers were cautiously optimistic about local homebuying demand and proceeded to launch 1,595 new private home units (excluding executive condominiums or ECs) for sale in May, double the 798 units launched in April. This is the largest monthly launch since the 1,283 units released by developers in November 2021.

Spurred by fresh project launches, developers’ sale of private homes increased for the fifth consecutive month by 17% m-o-m to 1,038 units in May. This is the highest monthly sales achieved since the 1,355 units sold in May 2022 but remains 23.6% lower y-o-y.

New residential project launches in May continued to attract healthy interest despite the new April 2023 market cooling measures, higher private home prices, elevated interest rates, and economic uncertainties.

This underscores that fundamental local demand for new private homes remains sound, particularly for notable projects with attractive attributes and for launches in areas where pent-up demand continues to outstrip limited supply of new private homes. Progressive payments for new projects have also helped to buffer the financial impact of higher interest rates on buyers.

Our analyses of data from the Urban Redevelopment Authority’s Real Estate Information System (REALIS) showed that following the 27 April 2023 market cooling measures, Singaporean and Singapore permanent resident (PR) buyers, many of whom are likely to be first-time homebuyers and unaffected by the additional buyer’s stamp duty (ABSD) rate increases, bought more new private units (excluding ECs) from developers.

The proportion of new private home units bought by Singaporean buyers increased from 82.2% of all new private home units sold by developers in April, to 85.5% in May. PRs also snapped up more new units in May, constituting 11.0% compared to 9.6% in April. On the other hand, non-PR foreign buyers who are required to pay 60% ABSD for any residential property purchase, were largely kept at bay, and accounted for just 3.5% of new private home sales in May compared to 8.1% in April.

The new launches of The Continuum and The Reserve Residences in the Rest of Central Region (RCR) in May captured the interest of Singaporean and PR buyers and the drove new private home sales (excluding ECs) during the month. Collectively, these two new projects accounted for 72.1% of islandwide new private home sales in May and made up 88.3% of the new home sales tally in the RCR during the month.

The prominence and freehold tenure of the 816-unit The Continuum in district 15 is a main draw for buyers. Around 90% of the buyers of the 225 units sold were Singaporeans and PRs made up 10%.

At The Reserve Residences, buyers are mainly enticed by its city-fringe location as well as its integration with retail amenities, public spaces and a transportation hub. The lack of new launches and supply in the area also generated pent-up demand for new projects. 523 units or 71.4% of the 732-unit project were sold, with Singaporeans and PRs making up 99% of the buyers. 

Overall, in the RCR, REALIS data shows that 88.4% of all new private home units sold in the market segment in May were taken up by Singaporeans, up from 86.1% in April. PRs purchased 10.0% of all new units sold in May, also reflecting an increase from 9.4% in April. 1.5% of new units sold were to foreigners in May, down from 4.5% in April.

Following the market cooling measures, some developers held back new project launches in the Core Central Region (CCR) in May, given that market segment has the largest exposure to foreign buyers and investors who are most affected by the ABSD rate hikes. Others continued to move new units from previously launched projects during the month. However, sales momentum slowed m-o-m under the weight of the cooling measures and the lack of new launches. On the whole, in the CCR, foreigners purchased 13.9% of all new units sold by developers in May, down from 19.5% in April. Singaporeans bought 68.2% of the total new units transacted in May, compared to 69.7% in April. On the other hand, PRs accounted for 17.9% of all new home purchases in May, indicating a rise from 10.3% in April.

In the Outside of Central Region (OCR), just 39 new private home units were sold from ongoing projects in May, as the lack of new project launches in the market segment offered limited options to prospective homebuyers. The limited new supply in the OCR resulted in a m-o-m decline in new private home purchases across all Singaporean, PR and foreign buyer cohorts in May. REALIS data shows that purchases by Singaporean buyers made up 89.5% of all new private homes sales in the OCR in May, while the PR and non-PR foreign groups each accounted for 5.3%.

Looking ahead, while non-PR foreign demand for private homes is foreseen to remain weighed down by the cooling measures, local buyers are expected to underpin demand for upcoming project launches, especially in the RCR and OCR. However, sales performance will differ across projects, influenced by factors such as unique locational and product attributes and the scale of projects.

With the June holiday period, we could see the previews of new projects towards the end of the month and the actual launches are likely to be scheduled in July. These projects include The Myst, Pinetree Hill and Lentor Hills Residences. Therefore, June’s sales tally is expected to be lower.

Appendix

The Continuum and The Reserve Residences were freshly launched in May. Collectively, both projects represented 91.9% of total units launched in May.

Table A – New Launches

Source: URA

Developers sold 1,038 new private homes (excluding ECs) in May. The take-up was led by the city fringes in the RCR with 847 units sold, followed by the prime CCR with 152 units sold. Meanwhile, the suburbs or OCR sold 39 units during the month.

The top selling projects during the month are listed in Table B below. The newly launched projects known as The Continuum and The Reserve Residences were the top-selling projects of the month, with take-up rates of 28% and 80%, respectively, in the month of launch.

Table B - Top Selling Projects

Source: URA