August new home sales slow as launches dry up during Ghost Month

[SINGAPORE] New home sales in the seasonally slow “Ghost Month” period fell to 153 units in August, down 92.9 per cent from the 2,142 units moved in the same month a year earlier, data released by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) showed on Tuesday (Sep 15).

The latest August sales figure was also about 79 per cent lower than the 731 units sold in July this year.

Mark Yip, Huttons Asia CEO, pointed to the lack of new launches during the lunar seventh month, saying that June sales had amounted to a similarly low 156 units when no new projects were launched.

This year, the lunar seventh month, when both developers and homebuyers stay on the sidelines due to superstitious reasons, fell between Aug 13 and Sep 10, almost two weeks earlier than in 2025 when it dated from Aug 23 to Sep 21.

Still, the August tally brings developers’ sales to 5,038 units for the first eight months of 2026, some 34 per cent below the 7,669 units sold over the same period in 2025, noted Tricia Song, CBRE head of research for Singapore and South-east Asia.

“The slower momentum this year has been a function of fewer launches and higher price points,” said Song.

Wong Siew Ying, PropNex head of research and content, expects sales to pick up over the next month as new projects – Amberwood at Holland, the first project in the new Holland Plain precinct, and Lucerne Grand in Lakeside – come onstream.

Other projects in the pipeline include The Serra Residences in Novena and Thomson Reserve, a mega development on the sprawling former site of Thomson View condominium.

“We expect quantum play to remain an important consideration in developers’ pricing strategies for upcoming launches,” said Wong, pointing to URA caveat data showing that around 60.1 per cent of new private non-landed homes sold last month were priced below S$2.5 million, inching up from 58.5 per cent in July.

SEE ALSO

Sim Lian kicks off Q4 launches with Amberwood at Holland, priced from S$2.6 million

‘No longer a rising tide’: Upcoming Q4 launches will test homebuying demand

While demand for new homes has held up reasonably well amid geopolitical and trade uncertainties, she flagged employment conditions and the impact of higher energy prices on inflation and interest rates as factors that could weigh on buyer sentiment.

Nicholas Mak, chief research officer at Mogul.sg, was also cautious. While 12 residential projects comprising about 5,200 units could be launched in the coming months, he expects developers to release only about half of them before Christmas, as the market may not be able to absorb that level of supply.

The August data is the lowest monthly new home sales the market has seen in the past 30 months, he added.

“On the positive side, the government will be taking in more new immigrants and minting more new Singapore citizens among the permanent residents in the next few years, which will raise both buying and leasing demand for residential properties,” said Mak.

Including executive condominiums, 171 units were sold in August with 116 units launched, versus 2,338 units sold and 2,496 units launched in the same month in 2025. In comparison, 758 units were sold and 889 units were launched in July.