Transacting homes off-plan in Singapore is a win-win proposition

2021 was a good year for housing developers in Singapore. Excluding executive condominiums, developers sold 13,027 private homes in 2021 as private home prices rose 10.6 per cent from a year ago, according to data from the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA).  

The private homes market turned more muted in early 2022 following the introduction of property cooling measures on Dec 16, 2021. But private home prices rose 3.5 per cent quarter-on-quarter in the second quarter of 2022 and transaction volume in Q2 rose from that of the previous quarter, according to URA data. Subsequently, private residential development, AMO Residence, the year’s first major new launch in the Outside Central Region, sold nearly all of its units by the first day of its launch on Jul 23.

New homes in Singapore are typically sold off-plan and paid for based on a progress payment schedule. Uncompleted new homes accounted for nearly 99 per cent of new homes sold by developers in 2021.