More than 1,000 new private homes sold in May

SINGAPORE: Sales of new private homes in Singapore have risen for the fifth consecutive month, reaching their highest level in 12 months.

Analysts said the increase was buoyed by two projects - The Reserve Residences on Jalan Anak Bukit and The Continuum on Thiam Siew Avenue.

Excluding executive condominiums (ECs), developers sold 1,038 units in May - a 17 per cent increase from the 887 units sold in April, according to figures released by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) on Thursday (Jun 15).

On a year-on-year basis, however, sales fell by 23.4 per cent from the 1,355 units sold last May - which also marked the last time more units were sold.

A total of 1,595 units were launched, almost double that of April's figure.

The sales were mainly driven by the launch of The Reserve Residences on Jalan Anak Bukit in the Rest of Central Region (RCR). A total of 523 units were sold at a median price of S$2,461 (US$1,833) psf.

“The project was very well received due to its attractive pricing and proximity to many top schools in the Bukit Timah area,” said Ms Christine Sun, OrangeTee and Tie's senior vice president of research and analytics.

"Moreover, integrated developments are rare and have always been popular among buyers for their convenience and high rentability."

Another RCR project that pushed sales in May, The Continuum on Thiam Siew Avenue, sold 225 units at a median price of S$2,720psf.

Huttons Asia's senior director for research Lee Sze Teck noted that The Continuum is the first freehold project with a large land size above 200,000 sq ft since Haig Court in the Katong area in almost 20 years.

He added that buyers were also drawn to the property’s freehold tenure, proximity to good schools and the Paya Lebar sub-regional centre.

The bulk of last month's transactions came from the Rest of Central Region (81.6 per cent). Another 14.6 per cent was in the Core Central Region (14.6 per cent), while the remaining 3.8 per cent was in the Outside of Central Region.

According to data from Huttons, almost 99 per cent of the buyers at The Continuum and The Reserve Residences are Singaporeans and Permanent Residents.

The proportion of residential property purchased by foreigners dropped significantly in May, said Mr Lee. He added that this was partly due to the property cooling measures imposed on Apr 27, where the additional buyer’s stamp duty (ABSD) was doubled to 60 per cent for foreigners.

However, he noted that the full effect of the cooling measures will only be evident in June. He put this down to "a transition provision to allow the exercise of option to purchase on or before May 17, 2023 to fall under the previous ABSD of 30 per cent".

However, ERA Realty Network's key executive officer Eugene Lim remains optimistic that in the longer term, increasingly more foreigners may return to the market even though Singaporeans and Permanent Residents are expected to continue to be the key demand drivers for private homes.

He said: “Singapore is a safe haven for them to bring their families. Their children can be educated here. Many may want to sink their roots here, because it is a very secure and comfortable environment for them.

"Those that do business use Singapore as their base camp.  After comparing amongst all the countries in Asia, Singapore still remains at the top of their list.”

Analysts also predicted that new home sales will decrease in June due to the lack of project launches and ongoing school holidays.

But after that, there will be some high-profile projects slated for launch in the coming months, including Lentor Hills Residences and Grand Dunman, said Ms Sun.

She said: "Some developers may also bring forward their project launches before the lunar seventh month, which may boost new home sales.  

"We anticipate that 7,000 to 8,000 new homes could be sold this year."

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