September 2022 Singapore Property Market Report | New Projects Spur Buying Demand
The Singapore private residential property market became more active in September 2022 with more housing units launched and sold in the month. The overall private residential real estate price index increased at a steady pace of 3.4% quarter-on-quarter (qoq)in the third quarter of 2022, marginally slower than the 3.5% you growth in the preceding quarter, based on the flash estimates for official real estate price indices.
Real estate developers launched a total of 913 private residential units, excluding Executive Condominium (EC) units, for sale last month. This was a 6.8 times jump over the 134 units launched in August 2022. However, the number of units sold increased at a slower pace in September. Developers sold 987 private housing units, representing a 125.3% month-on-month (mon) increase.
Despite the economic uncertainty and rising interest rates, some homebuyers are still bullish on the property market as they acquire real estate both as a hedge against inflation and as a means to grow their retirement portfolio.
Private Residential Property Price Trends
The fastest rate of price appreciation was in the mass-market condominium where prices of non-landed housing in the Outside Central Region (OCR) jumped 7% qoq.
In the rest of the rest estate market segments, the price growth was more moderate. The private residential property price index for the high-end Core Central Region (CCR) and city-fringe Rest of Central Region (RCR) increased 2.3% and 2.5% qoq respectively in Q3 2022. On the whole, the non-landed residential property price index appreciated 4.1% qoq. The robust growth was mainly contributed by the price surge of suburban condominiums.
In the landed residential real estate market, after growing by more than 2.5% each quarter from the middle of 2021 to mid-2022, the price index rose by a milder 1.2% qoq in Q3 2022. This is on the back of lower sales volume of landed housing units in the third quarter of this year.
New Residential Launches in September
Two new residential projects, namely Lentor Modern and Sky Eden@Bedok were launched in September. Although both projects are located in the suburban areas, housing units in both developments were sold above the benchmark $2,000 per square foot (psf). Housing units in Lentor Modern and Sky Eden@Bedok were sold at the median prices of $2,108 psf and $2,118 psf respectively.
The relatively high price tags did not deter homebuyers as both projects enjoyed strong take-up rate. Last month, 84.6% of the 605 units in Lentor Modern were sold, while 76.6% of the 158 units in Sky Eden were sold.
One of the reasons for the popularity of these two projects is that each of them are located near to a MRT station. Lentor Modern is located next to Lentor MRT station, while Sky Eden@Bedok is situated within 300m from the Bedok MRT station.
The robust demand for these new suburban condominium projects despite the new benchmark prices in the current environment of rising interest rates, could be one of the many reasons for the government to introduce the recent round of cooling measures.
| Project Name | Location | No of Units | Units Sold | Median Price ($ psf) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lentor Modern | Lentor Central | 605 | 512 | $2,108 |
| Sky Eden @ Bedok | Bedok Central | 158 | 121 | $2,118 |
Market share among the three market segments
The launch of these two highly anticipated projects spurred the home sales in the suburban Outside Central Region (OCR). About 70% or 686 private residential property units sold in September were located in the OCR. This is a notable increased compared to August when 21% of the private homes sold were from the OCR.
Although no new projects were launched in The Central Region, 198 units or one-fifth of the private homes sold in September were from the prime Core Central Region. Developers sold 103 units in the id-tier Rest of Central Region (RCR) or city-fringe last month, which made up 10% of all the private homes sold by developers in that month.
| Date | No of New Units Sold in CCR | No of New Units Sold in RCR | No of New Units Sold in OCR |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aug-22 | 220 | 127 | 90 |
| Sep-22 | 198 | 103 | 686 |
Primary Property Market Activities in Q3 2022
After increasing by 31.3% quarter-on-quarter (qoq) in Q2 2022, the primary residential property market sales volume slipped marginally in the third quarter of this year. Based on the preliminary figures, property developers sold 2,261 private housing units (excluding EC) in the third quarter of this year, 5.7% lower than the 2,397 units sold in the preceding quarter.
The lower sales was on the back of a drop in the number of private housing units launched in Q3 2022. Developers released about 1,455 private housing units in the third quarter, which is 25.6% fewer than the 1,956 units released in the second quarter of this year.
However, the take-up rate of private residential properties in the third quarter was still very healthy. For every 100 new private housing units released by developers, 155 units were sold in Q3 2022. Hence, the inventory of unsold housing units contracted further.
Alarm Bells
The 7% increase in the prices of OCR private non-landed property was more than double the rate of price expansion of similar types of properties in the CCR and RCR in the third quarter of 2022. This is the fastest rate of price growth since Q3 2009 when the OCR property price index surged 16% on the back of pent-up demand at the start of the market recovery after the global financial crisis.
At the same time, the upwards trend of the priced of HDB resale flats continue to grow into its fourth year. The HDB resale price index is already 11.4% higher than a year ago.
The robust price growth could be one of the main reasons for the government to introduce another round of market cooling measures on the night of 29 September 2022. The new measures primarily raised the home mortgage requirements for property buyers, including buyers of HDB resale flats. It could also curb the demand for HDB resale flats from private property owners who wants to sell their private homes to buy HDB resale flats.
Possible Impact of Cooling Measures
This round of cooling Measures is unprecedented as some of the new rules aim to curb demand and the housing budgets in the HDB resale market.
HDB flats are the most affordable type of housing in Singapore and about 80% of the Singapore resident population live in such flats. Hence, a steady price expansion in the pubic housing market could fuel growth in capital values in the rest of the residential property market, especially mass-market condominiums in the suburban locations.
By curbing the financing of HDB resale flats, the government hopes to encourage more financial prudence among home mortgage borrowers in the current environment of rising interest rates. Although the new measures could limit the rate of price increase in the HDB resale market in the short term, it could pave the way for a more sustainable and stable property market in the longer term.
The HDB resale prices have already increased 7.8% in the first nine months of this year. Even with this new round of cooling measures, it could end the year with a 9% to 12% expansion for the whole of 2022.
Market Outlook
The private primary housing market activities is likely to slow down in the last quarter of this year, partly due to the seasonal year-end lull period and the lack of large suburban residential projects to be launched in Q4 2022.
Two of the biggest residential projects expected to be launch in the coming months are both EC projects, namely Copen Grand and Tenet. Some homebuyers are not eligible to buy EC units, hence the launch of these two projects will not draw them to the market.
A third reason for the expected slower launch and sales activities is due to the latest round of market cooling measures. In our opinion, the first two reasons would exert a stronger impact on the private housing market in the fourth quarter. This is because the effects of the latest round of government intervention would be felt more in the HDB housing market. It would take a few months for the effects to spread to the private housing market.
| Project Name | Location | No of Units | Units Sold | Median Price ($ psf) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lentor Modern | Lentor Central | 605 | 512 | $2,108 |
| Sky Eden | Bedok Central | 158 | 121 | $2,118 |
| Leedon Green | Leedon Heights | 638 | 31 | $2,876 |
| Pullman Residences | Newton | 340 | 27 | $3,039 |
| Perfect Ten | Bukit Timah Road | 230 | 23 | $2,946 |