New Private Home Sales More Than Doubled To 987 Units In September On Strong Take-up At New Launches

17 October 2022, Singapore – New private home sales surged in September, more than doubling from August’s sales volume as two new mass market project launches – Lentor Modern and Sky Eden@Bedok - helped to supercharge sales during the month. Developers sold 987 new private homes (excluding executive condos), representing a 125% jump from the 438 units transacted in the previous month. This is the highest monthly home sales since 1,355 units were sold in May 2022. When compared to September 2021, new private home sales were up by 18.3% year-on-year last month.

Lentor Modern and Sky Eden@Bedok collectively sold 633 new homes, accounting for 64% of the monthly sales in September. The two projects have boosted sales in the Outside Central Region (OCR) to 686 units - the highest monthly new home sales in the sub-market in just over a year - as the limited unsold stock had weighed on transactions. Lentor Modern sold 512 units at a median price of $2,108 psf, while Sky Eden@Bedok shifted 121 units at a median price of $2,118 psf – setting benchmark prices for OCR new launches.

New home sales in the other two sub-markets fell, amid a dearth of new projects. The Core Central Region (CCR) saw 198 new homes changing hands in September – down by 10% from the 221 units transacted in the previous month. The most popular CCR projects during the month were Leedon Green which sold 31 units at a median price of $2,876 psf, Pullman Residences Newton which transacted 27 units at a median price of $3,039 psf, and Perfect Ten which sold 23 units at a median price of $2,946 psf.

Meanwhile, developers sold 103 new units in the Rest of Central Region (RCR), representing a 19% decline from 127 units shifted in August. September marked the lowest monthly new sales tally for the region since 77 RCR units were sold in April 2020. The top-selling RCR projects in September were Riviere where buyers picked up 18 units at a median price of $2,974 psf, One Pearl Bank which sold 12 units at a median price of $2,689 psf, and Meyer Mansion which moved 10 units at a median price of $2,657 psf.

In the EC segment, only 5 new units were sold in September - down from 11 transactions in August. All 5 units were transacted at North Gaia EC in Yishun for a median price of $1,269 psf. Since its launch in April 2022, North Gaia has sold 174 EC units as at end September, representing 28% of the 616 units in the development.

Developers placed 913 new units (ex. ECs) for sale in September, up sharply from 134 units that was put on the market in the previous month. It was largely driven by Lentor Modern and Sky Eden@Bedok which collectively saw 763 units being launched. In the first nine months of 2022, 4,024 new units (ex. ECs) were launched for sale, marking a 51% decline from the same period a year ago.

Ms Wong Siew Ying, Head of Research & Content, PropNex Realty:
“The surge in new home sales in September came off the back of two new launches Lentor Modern and Sky Eden@Bedok, shorn of the sales from these two projects, the take-up of private homes in the primary market was actually fairly tepid, given the dwindling stock of unsold units in existing launches.

Two of the largest upcoming launches are Copen Grand EC in Tengah and Tenet EC in Tampines, which will offer 639 units and 618 units respectively. Given the limited number of private condo launches, we expect new home sales (ex. EC) to return to a muted level in October after September’s upswing, while the EC segment will see a pick-up in activity.

We have already witnessed a strong interest in Copen Grand EC based on the number of visitors to the show flat, with would-be buyers likely attracted its location near to the Jurong Lake District and within the upcoming green and smart Tengah estate. In addition, EC buyers can also opt for the deferred payment scheme and may be eligible for CPF housing grant of up to $30,000. Those who are upgrading from HDB flats to a new EC also need not pay the additional buyer’s stamp duty upfront. We think these factors will increase the appeal of EC units among would-be buyers.

The median unit price of OCR new private homes rose by about 11% MOM to $2,108 psf in September on strong sales at benchmark prices at new launches (See Table 1) during the month. Meanwhile, the median transacted prices at CCR and RCR climbed by 2.2% and 4.1% to $2,873 psf and $2,530 psf, respectively. We expect new launch prices to remain relatively steady through the rest of the year, with developers maintaining their pricing strategy owing to higher construction cost and firm land price. Furthermore, there is also limited unsold inventory which will lend support to pricing.

In the first nine months of 2022, more than 6,480 new private homes (ex. EC) have been transacted – about 35% lower than the corresponding period in 2021. We anticipate that new private home sales could likely come in at around 8,000 to 8,500 units for the whole of 2022, substantially lower than the banner year of sales at over 13,000 units that were booked in the previous year.”