New Singapore private home sales soar in March; buyers zoom in on posh condos

DEVELOPERS in Singapore sold 1,296 new private homes in March, double that of February's 645, with buyers targeting high-end condos after a break during Chinese New Year.

Developers launched 959 units for sale in March against 167 in February.

The number of transactions in the most expensive region, the core central region (CCR), was 546 units or 42.1 per cent of new sales, an eight-year high. Sales in rest of central region (RCR) and outside central region (OCR) made up 388 (29.9 per cent) and 362 (27.9 per cent) respectively. CCR, RCR and OCR sales in February 2021 were 58, 325 and 262 respectively.

Sales in March were 100.9 per cent higher than for February 2021, and 96.4 per cent more than the same period a year ago, noted Lee Sze Teck, Huttons Asia director of research.

This is the highest March sales since 2017, he said. The 42.1 per cent or 546 units for March sales are in the CCR, helped by sales in Midtown Modern, RV Altitude and The M.

The previous high in the CCR was in November 2013, where 668 units were sold.

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March's volume was boosted by the launch of the 558-unit Midtown Modern, which saw 368 homes or 66 per cent moved at a median price of S$2,726 per square foot (psf). RV Altitude sold 77 units.

The figures - released by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) on Thursday - exclude executive condominium (EC) units, which are a public-private housing hybrid.

Including the 77 ECs sold, developers moved 1,373 new homes in March, up 82 per cent from February and a 52 per cent increase from a year ago.

While March buyers mainly snapped up posh homes in the CCR, they went for the smaller, lower-priced units.

Mr Lee said 44 per cent of the transactions in March were priced below S$1.5 million, 32.9 per cent were between S$1.5 million and S$2 million, while 23.1 per cent were above S$2 million. Some 82.2 per cent of purchases were by Singaporeans, with permanent residents and foreigners making up 13.4 per cent and 4.3 per cent, respectively. There were 10 purchases by Singaporeans for properties priced S$5 million and above. In contrast, there were only two such purchases by foreigners.

"This is another illustration of the ample liquidity among Singaporeans in recent years," Mr Lee noted.

Midtown Modern sold almost two-third of its units in less than two weeks after launching, he said.

"This is the best-selling project in the CCR since the circuit breaker. Buyers were attracted to the central location, excellent connectivity, lush landscaping and transformative integrated development."