New private home sales slump to 4-year low in April on lack of major new launches

Developers’ sales, excluding executive condominiums, plunged 58.1 per cent to 301 units in April from 718 units in March. PHOTO: ST FILE

SINGAPORE – New private home sales slumped to a four-year low in April after a strong rebound in March, due to a lack of major new launches and buyers’ fatigue in the face of still-high interest rates, economic uncertainty and upcoming new home supply.

Developers’ sales, excluding executive condominiums (ECs), plunged 58.1 per cent to 301 units in April from 718 units in March, alongside a 68 per cent drop in the number of new units released for sale to just 278 in April, from 877 units in March.

Just three new small non-landed projects were launched in April – 32 Gilstead (14 units), The Hillshore (59 units) and The Hill@One-North (142 units).

Including ECs, new home sales fell by 57.7 per cent to 352 units in April from 832 in March.

Year on year, new private home sales fell by 66.2 per cent from 890 units in April 2023 to a four-year low for that month since 277 units were sold in April 2020, when lockdown measures were first implemented during the Covid-19 pandemic.

This brings new private home sales for the first four months of 2024 to 1,465 units, down by 31.7 per cent from 2,146 units sold in the same period in 2023, real estate brokerage CBRE noted.

Ms Tricia Song, CBRE’s head of research for Singapore and South-east Asia, noted that the top 10 best performing projects in April were in the suburbs and city fringe areas, including two EC launches.

“This indicates that buyers have turned very price-sensitive amid economic weakness and high interest rates. They are also gravitating to existing launches that are priced more competitively relative to more recent new launches,” she added.

Ms Wong Siew Ying, head of research and content at real estate agency PropNex, said that April’s muted sales were not unexpected, as only a handful of small to mid-sized developments were launched that month.

“With limited new units put out in April, we saw buyers dipping into previously launched projects. The Botany at Dairy Farm, which hit the market in March 2023, was the top seller in April, shifting 50 units at a median price of $2,004 per sq ft and taking the condo’s overall take-up rate to about 87 per cent,” she noted.

Developers’ sales are set to remain tepid in May, with no major new launches forecast. Just two small boutique launches are expected during the month: the 21-unit Jansen House in Jansen Road and the freehold 16-unit Straits at Joo Chiat in Joo Chiat Place.

As such, these two projects “will not contribute meaningfully to overall sales in May. And with more travelling expected during the June school holidays, we may not see that many launches in June either. If so, we could be looking at a sluggish second quarter for new home sales”, Ms Wong added.

But she is optimistic that developers’ sales could pick up from the third quarter, with a potential launch of larger developments such as the 440-unit Sora in Yuan Ching Road, the 847-unit Emerald of Katong in Jalan Tembusu, and 916-unit The Chuan Park.

By market segment, April’s developers’ sales, excluding ECs, were led by projects in the suburbs, which sold 150 units – 49.8 per cent – of overall new home sales, down from 605 units in March.

The city fringe area saw 119 sales, or 39.5 per cent, of overall new home sales, up from 66 units in March, according to CBRE.

Mr Nicholas Mak, chief research officer at property search portal Mogul.sg, noted that new home sales volume from January to April 2024 is the lowest since 2008, when property demand was adversely hit by the global financial crisis. Just 1,083 new private homes were sold in January to April 2008.

“Many developers are waiting for the optimal time to launch their new projects to obtain the highest prices achievable,” he said.

But buyers have turned selective, said Knight Frank Singapore’s head of research Leonard Tay, pointing to URA data that showed a monthly average of 616 new sales in 2022 and 556 units in 2023.

“In the four months from January to April 2024, the monthly average was only 369 units,” he said.

“Buyers are no longer showing the kind of urgency and fear-of-missing-out behaviour at showflats that was a feature of the market from the second half of 2020 to the first half of 2022,” Mr Tay added.

“Source:[New private home sales slump to 4-year low in April on lack of major new launches] © Singapore Press Holdings Limited. Permission required for reproduction”

Properties Highlighted In This Article

32 Gilstead
$14,474,000 This product has multiple variants. The options may be chosen on the product page
Chuan Park
$1,925,952 – $3,858,019 This product has multiple variants. The options may be chosen on the product page
Emerald Of Katong
$1,400,000 – $3,590,000 This product has multiple variants. The options may be chosen on the product page
Jansen House
$1,499,000 – $2,442,000 This product has multiple variants. The options may be chosen on the product page
Straits At Joo Chiat
$2,196,520 – $3,022,240 This product has multiple variants. The options may be chosen on the product page
The Botany At Dairy Farm
$2,248,000 – $2,665,000 This product has multiple variants. The options may be chosen on the product page
The Hill @ One North
$1,918,000 – $3,137,000 This product has multiple variants. The options may be chosen on the product page
The Hillshore
$1,588,000 – $5,188,000 This product has multiple variants. The options may be chosen on the product page