Muted New Home Sales In September 2021 Due To Lack Of New Launches

 SINGAPORE, 15 October 2021 – Overall private new home sales in September 2021 eased up compared to the previous month due to rising community cases and emerging clusters, as well as developers holding back their launch activities. Developers sold 834 new private homes (excluding Executive Condos) in September 2021 – 31.4% lower than the 1,216 units transacted in August. Compared to the year before, sales volume was down by 37.2% than in September 2020. The month of September was on par with the months of May and June where sales volumes were to the tune of 800 units due to the lack of new launches and the safe management restrictions in place.

New homes sales in the Outside Central Region (OCR) recorded more than 40% of total sales in September with 356 units. Though, the volume of new homes sold in the OCR in September fall by half from August, due to diminishing inventory of OCR homes. The OCR sales in September was boosted by previously launched projects such as Parc Clematis (60 units) and Dairy Farm Residences (37 units) which continued to move units steadily in the month.

In the Rest of Central Region (RCR), 310 new homes were transacted in September 2021. The RCR sold 9.6% less units in September compared to the previous month. The RCR had one new launch – Bartley Vue which had a scaled-down preview in the month. Sales in the RCR for September were boosted by Normanton Park which sold 78 units at a median price of $1,832 psf.

Sales volume in the Core Central Region (CCR) picked up in September with 168 new homes were sold, 10.5% more units in September compared to August. Leedon Green was the best-selling CCR project in September, with 37 units transacted, at a median price of $2,729 psf. Sales volume in the RCR and CCR are expected to pick up in October with developers resuming their launch activities then.

In the EC segment, developers sold 462 new units in September 2021 up by more than 3 times from the 107 new ECs transacted in August. The bestselling project was the new EC project launch, Parc Greenwich which moved 335 out of its inventory of 496 units (67.5% take-up rate) at a median price of $1,229 psf.

In terms of units launched, developers placed 210 new private homes (ex. ECs) on the market in September – 74.9% less than the 836 units (ex. ECs) launched in the previous month. Almost half of the units placed on the market in September were from the one sole private residential project launch at Bartley Vue which launched 115 units as well as units from previously launched projects.

Mr Ismail Gafoor, CEO of PropNex Realty:
“For the month of September, owing to the lack of new launches, buyers such as HDB upgraders, continued to pick up homes from past projects due to their attractive pricing in comparison to recent launches which have higher benchmark prices.

It was observed that 5 out of the top 10 best-selling projects in September were OCR projects (see table 1), while the remainder top 5 best-selling projects were projects in the Central Region (RCR and CCR) – indicating growing interest for central homes. Sales in the RCR and CCR segment should continue to pick up in the coming months, supported by the upcoming launches at Canninghill Piers, Perfect Ten and Jervois Mansions. Homes in the central region tend to be more popular amongst investors and foreign buyers – as border restrictions and safe management restrictions slowly ease up, sales momentum in these market segments should pick up slightly towards the end of the year.

In October, the new home sale market is projected to achieve a sales volume of about 900 to 1,000 units. For the whole of 2021, we project that new private home sales (ex. ECs) could exceed 13,000 units, barring any unforeseen events and new cooling measures.”