EC sales outperform amid March drop in overall new private home sales

SINGAPORE – New private home sales slipped to 729 units in March from the 1,597 units sold in February, owing to a lack of mega launches compared with a more active launch pipeline in the first two months of 2025.

Excluding executive condominiums (ECs), just 555 new units were launched in March, compared with the 1,694 units in February. As a result, month-on-month new private home sales fell 54.4 per cent in March, but were up 1.5 per cent year on year from the 718 units sold in March 2024. 

Including ECs, new home sales fared a little better. Overall sales dipped to 1,510 in March from the previous month’s 1,626, shored up primarily by a near sell-out at the launch of Aurelle of Tampines, the first new EC to be launched in 2025.

Collectively, the Aurea and Lentor Central Residences, the other two new launches in March, offered a total of 665 units, compared with nearly 1,700 units from two February launches – Parktown Residence and Elta.

The top-selling condo was Lentor Central Residences, which moved 460 of its 477 units, or 96 per cent, within its launch month, outperforming five earlier launches in the Lentor Hills area.

Buyers were likely drawn to its proximity to Lentor MRT station and nature parks, said OrangeTee Group’s chief researcher and strategist Christine Sun.

Analysts are mixed about the impact of the escalating trade war, with some expecting heightened economic uncertainty to weigh on the local property market in the coming months, while others see investors turning to the Republic as a safe haven for property investment.

“Following the strong upturn in buyer sentiment in the fourth quarter of 2024 and the first quarter of 2025, market uncertainties have heightened considerably in early April, as the US imposed sweeping tariffs on its trading partners,” said PropNex chief executive officer Ismail Gafoor.

As the property market is sentiment-driven, the tariffs may influence home-buying decisions, particularly among investors, he added.

“Since early April, (US President Donald) Trump’s new tariffs have roiled global markets and triggered volatility... As a result, some investors may opt to wait out any potential turbulence and delay their purchases. However, this is expected to be a knee-jerk reaction,” ERA Singapore CEO Marcus Chu said.

Should unemployment remain low and retrenchments be contained, there should be sustained domestic demand once clarity emerges on the global scene, said Knight Frank Singapore head of research Leonard Tay.

“If the worst should happen and Singapore slides into a recession that is accompanied by pay cuts, salary freezes and job losses, potential home buyers will concentrate on bread-and-butter concerns,” he said.

Signalling pent-up demand owing to the limited new supply in Tampines since Tenet EC was launched in December 2022, a total of 705 of the 760 units at Aurelle were sold in March at a median price of $1,769 per sq ft (psf). The project by Sim Lian Group was fully sold by April 12.

In view of declining new EC stock, Mr Chu said it is likely there is pent-up demand for upcoming new launches Otto Place at Plantation Close in Tengah and another EC project in Jalan Loyang Besar in Pasir Ris.

Ms Tricia Song, head of research for Singapore and South-east Asia at CBRE, said April’s new home sales could be flat from March’s levels.

Prime residential project One Marina Gardens sold 38 per cent of its 937 units at an average price of $2,953 psf, while Bloomsbury Residences in Media Circle near the one-north precinct sold 25 per cent of its 358 units at $2,474 psf.

While the first quarter’s new home sales have held up because of robust demand for attractive suburban and city-fringe projects, most new launches for the rest of 2025 will be in the prime district, where they have higher price points and may not generate similar volumes, Ms Song said.

“With most pent-up demand in the suburbs and city fringe realised, pricing and design will be crucial for the upcoming new launches to continue this momentum,” she said.

With Singapore’s 2025 gross domestic product growth forecast slashed to zero per cent to 2 per cent from an initial forecast of 1 per cent to 3 per cent, private home price growth could plateau in the next few quarters, Ms Song added.

Flash estimates released in early April showed private home prices rose just 0.6 per cent in the first quarter, compared with a 2.3 per cent gain in the fourth quarter of 2024.