Singapore home prices rose by 1.5 percent in the third quarter of the year 2024 after rising by 2.8 percent in the previous quarter. This follows a 2.8-percent increase in the final three months of the year 2023.

Prices are still on the rise, despite sales volumes dropping by 20 per cent last quarter.

The new launch market is expected to see private home prices continue to increase due to the commitment of land and construction cost.

Prices have shown signs of stabilisation, ahead of the arrival of about 10,000 new private homes expected by 2024.

Due to the uncertain economic environment, buyers are more selective. Average private home prices rose by 34.5% since Q1 2019.

It is possible that the negative news flow of a large number of company layoffs around the world could have dampened buying sentiment in January.

Urban Redevelopment Authority’s latest data indicate that the price of landed homes in the first-quarter increased by 3.4 percent after increasing by 4.6 percent in Q4.

Prices are still supported by local upgrades, limited supplies and increased construction costs.

In Q1, the price of non-landed houses in Singapore rose by 1 %, down from the previous quarter’s 2.3%.

The Core Central Region is primarily responsible for the increase in prices. The prices rose by 3.1% after a 3.9% gain in the last quarter.

The top non-landed property transactions in CCR included resale units of two apartments at The Ritz-Carlton Residences Singapore Cairnhill. These sold for S$16.5M each, or S$5,397/sqf.

Cuscaden Reserve’s relaunch on 16 Mar may have also contributed to the slight rise in CCR price index. It has so far sold around 80 units, with an average selling price of S$3,000/sf.

What is Pinetree Hill pricing?

In the Outside Central Region suburbs (OCR), the prices of nonadopted homes grew at a slower 0.4 percent in Q1 after rising 4.5 percent in Q4.

Strong sales at Lentor Mansion are likely to drive up prices in OCR.

URA caveats show that some 402 or 34 of the Lentor development were sold in its mid-March launch, with an average selling price of S$2,278/sq.ft., making it one of the best new launches this year.

The prices of non-landed residential property in the city-fringe and Rest of Central Region (RCR) recovered from a decline of 0.8 percent in 2023’s Q4 to rise by 0.2 percent in Q1.

Prices are stabilising – especially in RCR & OCR. New sales hover at S$2,500psf. Resale prices in RCR are around S$1,700psf. OCR prices for both new and resale properties are around S$2,200psf.

Markets could plateau in certain segments if the demand for new products increases.

Foreigners made up 1.1% of Q1 2024 private home buyers. Singaporeans and PRs represented 98.6%. In Q1, there were 35 foreigners who bought residential homes. This is down from the 66 that purchased in Q4.

The total number of transactions was down by 20 percent from Q4 (4,334 units) and by 16 percent compared with the quarter before.

This is a continuation of the trend for declining transaction volumes. In 2023, the total yearly volume was already at its lowest level since 2016.

The transaction volume is a total of new sales and resales. It excludes executive condominium units.

A combination of factors including economic uncertainty, increasing retrenchment rates and high interest rates have made buyers more cautious in their home buying decisions.

Some are waiting for lower interest rates to appear in the second part of 2024.

URA will release its full Q1 market data set on April 26, 2019.