New Private home sales double in September 2022

2026-07-14 04:51:30 Business

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The openings of Lentor Modern and Sky Eden@Bedok fueled a surge in the September sales of new private homes in Singapore, which more than quadrupled month over month.

On Monday (Oct. 17), the Urban Redevelopment Authority said that developers sold 987 apartments last month, an increase over the revised 438 units sold in August (URA).

There have been this many sales since May, when developers sold 1,355 units (excluding ECs).

With pent-up demand for suburban houses, Ms. Christine Sun, at OrangeTee & Tie, said that "new home sales in September surged to the second-highest level this year."

As compared to the 834 homes sold in September of previous year, this year's total is up 18.3 percent.

The debut of two suburban developments, Lentor Modern (512 units sold) and Sky Eden@Bedok (121 units sold), increased September sales.

The sales numbers at Lentor Modern and Sky Eden@Bedok were "amazing," according to Ms. Sun.

Despite having median launch prices of S$2,100 psf, she reports that 84.6 percent of Lentor Modern's 512 apartments and 76.6 percent of Sky Eden@Bedok's 121 units were sold within the first month.

"Given the projects' price tags, interest rate rises, and mounting uncertainty on the macroeconomic front, the sales success of both projects was astonishing."

Ms. Sun elaborated by saying that the paucity of suburban housing options and the demand from HDB upgraders who have just sold their apartments have kept prices high.

In comparison to the 134 units introduced in August, Huttons Asia's senior director of research Lee Sze Teck reported a 6.8-fold increase in September.

Mr. Lee said that despite an increase in the number of available units, private house sales continued to outpace the number of new launches every month.

Sales have "outpaced units made available for purchase for 13 consecutive months."

There were 686 sales in the Outside Central Region (OCR), 198 in the Core Central Region (CCR), and 103 in the Rest of the Central Region (RCR).

One Global Property Services' senior analyst for research and content development, Mr. Mohan Sandrasegeran, has seen a rise in OCR sales over the previous month's numbers.

"New home sales in OCR increased by the most of any market niche in September. In OCR, the number of sales rose dramatically from 90 in August to 686 in September "... he made the following statement.

"With the exception of Amo Residence in July, there have been few noteworthy new non-landed condo releases in the OCR sector. Buyers and investors were likely salivating at the prospect because of the pent-up demand."

Since the number of new launches in OCR has been decreasing, Mr Mohan said, "buyers and investors are beginning to adopt the new benchmark pricing points."

It is now the norm for them to expect that OCR developments would cost S$2,000 a square foot or more

According to URA and Huttons Research, the percentage of purchases made by non-locals fell to 4.8% in September from 12.7% in August.

A lesser percentage of September's sales came from non-locals, Mr. Lee said, since so much of that month's business was conducted inside the OCR.

FOCUSING ON THE FUTURE
Moving ahead, Ms. Sun predicts that the deployment of property cooling regulations may have a minor influence on private house sales.

"On September 30, 2022, new measures to reduce temperatures went into effect. When factoring in private financial institution property loans into the overall debt service ratio, an additional half of a percentage point must be included "to which she responded.

"There may be some mild repercussions on the secondary housing market as a result of the adjustment, which would limit the size of loans available to potential homeowners.

Many borrowers were already being cautious because they anticipated interest rates to continue rising next year before the change was even announced.

Mr. Lee predicts sales would be capped at about 300 to 400 units due to diminishing unsold inventories and a lack of key releases in October.

Ms. Sun did point out that two upcoming EC developments, Copen Grand in Tengah and Tenet in Tampines, may see brisk demand for their apartments.

"Despite the cooling measures, it is projected that demand for these ECs would be solid due to the restricted supply of ECs in the market," she added.

"Except for North Gaia, which was just released this year, most EC projects are now at or near 100% sales. As the cost of newly built suburban condominiums rises, prospective purchasers may go to the EC market instead because of the relative affordability and value it offers."

Mr. Lee also believes that November's openings of Hill House and Sophia Regency in the CCR would help improve sales.

He also said that Kovan Jewel in the OCR might be put up for sale in November, saying, "The quantum for these two projects is quite tempting for individuals who aspire to possess a prestigious District 9 location."