Year-end seasonal lull with single launch sees new private home sales fizzle in November
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Sales could remain subdued in December as the year-end seasonal lull sets in and developers hold off new launches for 2026.
PHOTO: ST FILE
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SINGAPORE – New private home sales pulled back sharply following October’s blistering record sales, with only one new project launched in November.
Sales could remain subdued in December as the year-end seasonal lull sets in and developers hold off new launches for 2026, market watchers say.
Excluding executive condominiums (ECs), developers moved just 325 units in November, down from 2,424 units in October, which saw four major new launches. Year on year, new home sales are 87 per cent lower, based on data released by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) on Dec 15.
The sharp drop is partly due to only 347 new units being launched – markedly lower than the 2,233 new units launched in October. A year ago, 2,871 new private homes were launched for sale.
November’s sole and 2025’s final new launch, the 347-unit The Sen in Upper Bukit Timah,
Ms Christine Sun, chief researcher and strategist at OrangeTee – Realion Group, believes that buyers were attracted to the existing retail and dining amenities in the Bukit Timah and Beauty World area.
“Future residents at The Sen will also benefit from the upcoming (URA) Master Plan transformation, including a redeveloped food centre and an integrated transport hub at Beauty World. Moreover, entry prices were competitive at a median of $2,339 psf, compared with $2,550 psf for new non-landed homes in the Bukit Timah area for the first 11 months of this year,” she said.
In comparison, October saw four new launches
“The moderation in sales follows October’s record-high performance and reflects the typical year-end seasonal lull. November and December tend to see fewer project releases as developers hold back launches, and buying activity slows during the year-end holidays,” said ERA Singapore chief executive Marcus Chu.
But analysts say 2025 is turning out to be a banner year for property developers, with a total of 10,592 new sales, excluding ECs, recorded as at Dec 7.
New private home transactions should end the year just under 11,000 units, according to Knight Frank. The last record high was achieved in 2021, when 13,027 new private homes were sold.
Despite economic uncertainty and geopolitical tensions, Singapore’s residential market has remained resilient due largely to declining interest rates since September 2024, a low unemployment rate and largely intact household earnings and savings, said Knight Frank Singapore head of research Leonard Tay.
However, he does not expect developer sales to hit above the 10,000-unit range in 2026.
“The lack of successful collective sales in the past few years is not adding many new development sites alongside parcels sold in the government land sales programme. The almost 11,000 new sales in 2025 would also have taken a substantial chunk of buyers out of the market,” Mr Tay explained.
Mr Chu noted that the top five best-selling projects in November, led by The Sen, were all located in the city fringe, which continued to register healthy buyer interest despite the quieter year-end period.
“This steady uptake reflects buyers’ confidence in the city-fringe market segment, even as overall transaction volumes moderate,” he said.
OrangeTee’s Ms Sun expects new private home sales to pick up after the holidays in January. Moreover, several major projects are slated for launch in the first quarter of 2026.
These include the 540-unit Narra Residences, an 860-unit project in Tengah Garden Avenue, the 455-unit River Modern in River Valley Green, the 246-unit Newport Residences in Anson Road, and Rivelle Tampines, a 572-unit EC in Tampines Street 95.
These projects, which are located near public transport nodes and retail amenities, should draw Singaporean investors and HDB upgraders, she added.
In addition, Coastal Cabana, the first EC in Pasir Ris in more than a decade, could see pent-up demand from buyers when it is launched in January 2026.
