Near sell-out launches in March boost developer sales to 1,300 units after 4 slow months

SINGAPORE – Developers in Singapore sold 1,300 private homes in March, up 78.3 per cent from the 729 units moved a year before, as more projects hit the market after a slow season.

Data released by the Urban Redevelopment Authority on April 15 showed that the latest sales, excluding executive condominiums (ECs), were also more than five times the 246 units sold in February.

This marked the highest monthly sales for the month of March since 2017, real estate consultancy Knight Frank research head Leonard Tay said.

Including ECs, 1,937 units were sold during the month, with 1,615 units launched. In March 2025, 1,510 units were sold and 1,315 launched.

In comparison, 266 units were sold and a mere 15 launched in February 2026.

The strong sales followed near sell-out launches of new condominium projects in March.

The 455-unit River Modern in River Valley moved 90 per cent of units at its launch weekend. Two projects in Tampines – Rivelle Tampines EC and Pinery Residences – also cleared more than 90 per cent of units when they opened for sales.

Sales in the four months before March were much slower, with volume in the low hundreds over the year-end lull and seasonal Chinese New Year pullback in February.

Mr Tay said the ongoing Middle East conflict, which started on Feb 28, might have added a layer of uncertainty to an already-volatile world, but it “did nothing to affect domestic demand for private non-landed homes” because the public is still “hungry for new products”.

There was brisk activity in the prime Core Central Region (CCR) in March, with 472 units sold.

Most of the month’s CCR sales – 88 per cent or 416 units – were from River Modern at a median price of $3,220 per square foot (psf), making it the best-selling non-landed CCR project to date, said real estate agency Huttons Asia’s chief executive Mark Yip.

Among other prime CCR projects on the market, freehold Newport Residences sold 22 units at a median price of $3,062 psf, and W Residences Marina View Singapore moved six units at a median price of $2,636 psf in March.

Altogether, 697 CCR homes were sold in the first quarter of 2026 – more than three times the 192 units in the year-ago period.

It was the strongest first-quarter performance for the CCR since 2010, when 1,927 units were sold, real estate agency SRI’s head of research and data analytics Mohan Sandrasegeran noted.

Since then, the quarterly sales figure has averaged at around 340 units.

Hitting new highs

Still, the March tally brought total first-quarter sales to a lower level than in the same period of 2025.

Property portal Mogul.sg’s chief research officer Nicholas Mak said home buyers picked up 2,012 new private homes in the first quarter of 2026, a 31.6 per cent decline from the previous quarter and 40.4 per cent lower on year.

Ms Tricia Song, real estate company CBRE’s head of research for Singapore and South-east Asia, said that against a high base in the first quarter of 2025 – when there was a bumper crop of new launches capturing latent demand amid sharply lower mortgage rates – home-buying appetite was surprisingly strong this March.

Demand remained firm despite heightened volatility and economic uncertainty from the Middle East conflict, Ms Song noted, “probably as mortgage rates are still at (their) lowest levels since 2022 and any effects from the energy crisis have yet to filter into the wider economy”.

And in a sign of EC pricing – and demand – reaching new benchmarks, the volume of ECs sold for at least $2 million hit a high in March.

Ms Christine Sun, real estate company Realion’s chief researcher and strategist, noted that 275 units were sold for at least this price in March, surpassing the previous high of 150 units in March 2025.

“By unit price, 411 ECs were sold for a premium price of $1,900 per square foot and above in March 2026, of which 410 units were from Rivelle Tampines.

“Only 10 ECs have been sold at this price point historically,” she said.

In the luxury market, 51 new homes changed hands for at least $5 million each.

The priciest transactions involved two units of over 4,200 sq ft in the freehold 32 Gilstead in District 11. Ms Wong Shanting, real estate adviser Newmark’s director and head of research, said the two were sold at $14.5 million each to foreign buyers.

Two 2,056 sq ft units in the 99-year leasehold Upperhouse in Orchard Boulevard transacted at $7.9 million and $7.8 million. These units were purchased by foreign buyers too.

Ms Wong noted that foreigners still account for a fraction of new home purchases, with just eight such transactions in March.

Meanwhile, 43.5 per cent of new home transactions were priced between $2.5 million and $5 million. Mr Yip of Huttons said this includes more than 45 per cent of River Modern units, and about a third of units sold at Pinery Residences.

The remaining units at Pinery Residences transacted at under $2.5 million.

Property firm ERA Singapore’s CEO Marcus Chu expects buying momentum to strengthen in the coming months amid a healthy pipeline of new launches.

Mr Sandrasegeran of SRI said April sales are likely to be held up by two projects slated to start booking sales later in April – Vela Bay in Bayshore, and Tengah Garden Residences.

Both are located in areas that have not had new launches in recent years.

With an onslaught of new launches and rising demand for fresh homes, Mr Tay pointed to a growing gulf between their prices and resale values.

In the first quarter, the median price of new sales in the CCR was around $3,174 psf, 42.8 per cent higher than that of resales at $2,223 psf.

In the Rest of Central Region, or city fringe, the median price of new private homes, excluding ECs, was $2,686 psf, 37.7 per cent higher than the $1,951 psf of resales.

The spread was highest in the suburban Outside Central Region, with a median new sale price of $2,502 psf and that of resales at $1,554 psf.

“This divergence is likely to persist (or even widen) as more price-sensitive buyers turn to the resale market, reinforcing a two-tiered price dynamic across Singapore’s private housing landscape,” said Mr Tay. THE BUSINESS TIMES