Singapore’s private home prices swing up 2.3% in Q4 on strong new launch sales, taking 2024 gain to 3.9%

PRIVATE residential property prices in Singapore rose 2.3 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2024, bringing the full-year increase to 3.9 per cent, according to flash estimates released by the Urban Redevelopment Authority on Thursday (Jan 2). 

Prices of non-landed private properties jumped across all regions in the quarter, with strong buying at new launches, while projects already on the market benefited from a rebound in demand.

The Singapore private residential market defied initial expectations with a strong finish in 2024, driven by pent-up demand and a slew of well-located new launches in the last quarter of the year, said Wong Xian Yang, Cushman & Wakefield research head for Singapore and South-east Asia.

“The secondary market (resale and subsales) continued to draw buyers seeking value, with volumes rising significantly in 2024 due to more competitive pricing.” 

Mohan Sandrasegeran, SRI head of research and data analytics, noted that Q4’s performance was a notable recovery from the 0.7 per cent drop in Q3.

He said: “The uptick in prices can be largely attributed to a resurgence in property transactions during the last quarter of the year, spurred by the easing of interest rates, which improved buyer sentiment.”

On the whole, prices of non-landed properties were up 3.2 per cent in Q4, faster than the 0.1 per cent in Q3.

Prime Core Central Region (CCR) non-landed prices climbed 2.4 per cent, reversing the 1.1 per cent dip in the third quarter of 2024. 

Prices in the city-fringe Rest of Central Region (RCR) rose by 3.4 per cent, a rise that was bigger than the 0.8 per cent growth in Q3.

Leonard Tay, head of research at Knight Frank Singapore, said the near sell-out of Emerald of Katong fanned a buzz of activity among other projects in the vicinity, such as The Continuum, Tembusu Grand and Grand Dunman, which sold a total of 203 units among them in November.

Prices in the suburban Outside Central Region (OCR) went up by 3.4 per cent in Q4 after having stayed flat in the previous quarter.

For the whole of 2024, prices in the RCR grew 6.2 per cent, and those in the CCR were up 4.3 per cent, outpacing gains in 2023, Tricia Song, CBRE’s research head for Singapore and South-east Asia, noted.

OCR price growth slowed from a “blistering” 13.7 per cent increase in 2023 to 3.8 per cent, she added.  

“The steep moderation of OCR price growth in 2024 could be a sign of increasing buyer resistance for OCR home prices, which have grown substantially in the last few years,” said Cushman’s Wong.

The prices of landed properties slipped by another 0.9 per cent in Q4, after a 3.4 per cent decline in Q3.

The 3.9 per cent overall growth for the year was a slower rate of growth than the increase of 6.8 per cent registered for 2023, and 8.6 per cent for 2022.

Transaction volumes for all private properties rose by 25 per cent quarter on quarter to 6,715 units in Q4 on the back of a higher number of units launched by developers. Sales volumes up to mid-December totalled 21,232, about 14 per cent lower than the annual average of 24,830 between 2021 and 2023.

There were 22 new launches in 2024, with around 6,600 units launched for sale, said Christine Sun, chief researcher and strategist at property firm OrangeTee Group. 

Based on estimates, there could be up to 24 new private home launches and three executive condominium (EC) launches, which are expected to put some 11,000 private condominium units and 2,000 EC units in the market, said ERA Singapore’s chief executive officer Marcus Chu. 

Market watchers expect around 7,000 to 9,000 new homes to be sold in 2025, slightly higher than the expected 6,500 units transacted in 2024. 

Barring new cooling measures and unforeseen economic shocks, overall sales volumes are expected to range between 19,000 and 22,000 units in 2025, said Cushman’s Wong. 

CBRE expects average private home prices to rise at a moderate pace of between 3 and 6 per cent in 2025 on lower interest rates, strong household balance sheets, low unsold inventory and an attractive pipeline of new launches which could set benchmark prices.