Developers’ April new house sales increased by 80% moo-m to 887 units because to new launches

Novo Place enbloc for the charming Novo Place EC residence is a rare opportunity for investors and homeowners to own an affordable property in a prime location in district 23 of Singapore.

The month of April saw developers have sold 887 brand new residential residences (excluding executive condominiums, also known as ECs) as per data published from URA in May. The figure represents an increase in the range of 80.3% m-o-m and 37% year-over-year. It also marks the four-month streak of expansion, and the most significant monthly sales since September 2022, when 987 new homes for sale were sold.

The increased sales are on the following two significant launches that took place in the Rest of Central Region (RCR) in the last month -the 638-unit Tembusu Grand development by City Developments Ltd (CDL) and MCL Land along Jalan Tembusu as well as the 275-unit Blossoms at the Park EL Development along Slim Barracks Rise.

Tembusu Grand, which launched on auction on the 8th of April, sold three hundred and fifty-four units (56%) at a median price of $2,463 per square foot in the month of April. Blossoms in the Park which went on sale April 29 was sold out of 205 (74.5%) at a median price of $2.427 psf. The project was the first sale launch following the announcement of most recent property cooling measures, which went into effect on the 27th of April.

Together they together accounted for 559 units, which is the equivalent of 63% of the sales in April. RCR projects accounted for the majority of private home sales in April which included 628 houses sold in the region. “The 628 units that were sold in the RCR was the highest number of units sold in this market in the last the last 11 years (since the market closed in 2022 with 893 homes),” observes Wong Siew Ying who is the head of content and research for PropNex Realty.

In addition to Tembusu Grand and Blossoms by the Park and Blossoms by the Park, other RCR projects included among the projects that had the most sales included CDL as well as MCL Land’s Piccadilly Grand on Northumberland Road that sold 14 units for the median price of $2,045 per square foot. Riviere, a condominium from Frasers Property on Jiak Kim Street was the last of its 10 units sold for the median price of $2,954 per square foot.

Within the Core Central Region (CCR) the CCR, 208 private homes are sold through April accounting for 23% of all sales. The most popular CCR project in April is The Atelier, Bukit Sembawang Estates which is a 120-unit freehold development located on Makeway Avenue, where 46 units were sold for $2,658 per square foot. Leedon Green and Pullman Residences Newton were next with 19 units sold in each development with a median of $2,838 per square foot and $3,215 per square foot, respectively.

Lee Sze Teck, senior director of research at Huttons Asia, notes that the CCR new home sales are among the highest since August 2022. This comes due to increased transactions by foreign buyers. In April buyers from abroad buyers home purchases nearly tripled to 70. This is the most similar deals since the beginning of May in 2022. “Geopolitical tensions could have led to more foreigners purchasing properties that are safe and secure, such as Singapore,” Lee adds.

The Outside Central Region (OCR) had just 51 units sold in April, an increase of more than 78% in m-o-m, aided by the absence of any new launches and a lack of un-sold inventory. The top-selling brands in the region are The Botany at Dairy Farm (12 units sold for the median price of $2,087) along with Gazania. Gazania (10 units that were sold for the median price of $1,755 per pound).

While in the EC segment there were 22 units delivered in April. That’s which is on an equal basis with the 21 units that were sold in March. The sales were driven by North Gaia, with the Yishun EC moving 18 units at a median cost of $1,271 per square foot.

The impact of cooling measures
PropNex’s Wong discusses the new projects have been launched since the new cooling measures came into effectin particular Blossoms in the Park, and The Continuum The 816-unit freehold condominium by Hoi Hup Realty as well as Sunway Property on Thiam Siew Avenue -and have been able to achieve solid sales of more than 200 units per. The Continuum was launched on May 6 recorded 206 (27%) units sold over the course of its opening weekend, with an average of $2,732 per square foot.

Additionally, Wong points out that despite the increase in the the additional buyer’s tax (ABSD) rate for foreign buyers up to 60%, Blossoms by the Park was able to acquire eight units by foreigners. The Continuum saw one. In all, foreign buyers represented 8% of all sales in April, which was the same as the month prior to.

But Wong believes that foreign demand for homes may slow over the next couple of months when foreign buyers evaluate the new rules. “It isn’t quite there and we’re not sure, but that the ABSD rate hike is likely to be affecting the demand for foreign investment,” she adds. This could cause a decline in foreign investors’ demand, especially in the CCR that tends to draw greater interest from foreign investors.

Contrarily, Huttons’ Lee believes that the interest of foreigners in the luxury housing market in Singapore is still strong. “Interest hasn’t slowed substantially following these cooling steps. Foreigners are still scheduling appointments to visit luxurious houses,” he says.

Eugene Lim, key executive officer and director of research and market information for ERA Realty Network, concurs and says that buyers remain attracted by Singapore’s stability in administration and robust currency. “For those with a good net worth that are wealthy, they might eventually take a look at the overall costs for property possession within Singapore (which is comprised of the property cost as well as buyer’s stamp duty and ABSD) instead of focus on the excessive ABSD price,” he opines.

In any event, new homes for sale in the upcoming month are likely to be dependent on the home buying market from Singaporeans as well as Singapore permanently resident. “New home sales in the month of May 2023 are expected to be quite robust due to the anticipated release of The Reserve Residences (the 732-unit condominium owned by Far East Organization and Sino Group located at Jalan Anak Bukit) attracted a great deal of interest,” predicts PropNex’s Wong.