February Developers%E2%80%99 Sales Surge 13 Year High 1575 Units Sold
The latest data released by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) on March 17 has shown that new private home sales in Singapore continued to maintain their strong momentum in February, largely driven by the launch of new projects. According to the figures, developers sold a total of 1,575 units (excluding executive condominiums or ECs) last month, which represents a significant 45.4% increase from the 1,083 units sold in January.
This notable surge in February new home sales, when compared on a year-on-year basis, was more than 10 times higher than the 153 units sold in February 2024. Tricia Song, the Head of Research for Singapore and Southeast Asia at CBRE, states that this is also the highest number of developer sales for the month of February in 13 years, since 2,417 units were moved in February 2012. The addition of ECs further brought the total number of new home sales to 1,604 units, marking a 45.3% increase from the previous month.
Since the beginning of the year, developers have successfully sold a total of 2,658 units (excluding ECs). This is in stark contrast to last year, where it took eight months for developers to achieve a similar figure, as noted by Leonard Tay, the Head of Research at Knight Frank Singapore.
The strong performance in February was largely attributed to the launch of two major projects in the Outside Central Region (OCR) – ParkTown Residence in Tampines North with 1,193 units and Elta on Clementi Avenue 1 with 501 units. ParkTown Residence emerged as the top-selling project for the month, selling 1,041 units at a median price of $2,363 per square foot (psf). This translates to an impressive 87% take-up rate at the integrated project, which is a joint venture between UOL Group and CapitaLand Development. Coming in second place is Elta, which saw a sales rate of 65.1% with 326 units sold by developers MCL Land and CSC Land Group at a median price of $2,538 psf. CBRE’s Song notes that both ParkTown Residence and Elta are situated in suburban areas that have not seen any supply in the past five years, which explains their robust success.
Including the two aforementioned projects, developers launched a total of 1,694 units for sale in February, a substantial 89% increase from the 896 units launched in the previous month. The majority of new private home sales came from the OCR with 1,452 units, accounting for a remarkable 92% of total sales. Wong Siew Ying, the Head of Research and Content at PropNex Realty, highlights that this reflects the best monthly showing for the OCR in over nine years, since 1,523 units were sold in July 2015. Sales in the Rest of Central Region (RCR) made up 98 units or 6.2% of the total units sold in February, with the top-selling RCR project being Pinetree Hill, which saw 22 units sold at a median price of $2,613 psf. In the Core Central Region (CCR), the number of units sold was even lower with only 25 units sold which accounted for 1.6% of the overall sales. The best-performing CCR project was 19 Nassim, with five units sold at a median price of $3,372 psf. Additionally, four units were also sold at One Bernam at a median price of $2,651 psf. The 351-unit One Bernam, which was launched for sale in May 2021, is now fully sold.
According to Huttons Asia’s Senior Director of Data Analytics, Lee Sze Teck, Singapore citizens made up the majority of new private home buyers at 92.4%, followed by permanent residents at 6.9%. Meanwhile, foreigners accounted for 11 new home purchases, including the two most expensive transactions in February – the sale of two units at 32 Gilstead for $14.47 million and $14.61 million.
In a first for Singapore’s property market, a record-breaking 603 new private homes (including ECs) in the OCR were sold for over $2 million in February. This is the highest number of new suburban homes sold at this price range in a single month since URA data was first made available in 1995. According to Christine Sun, Chief Researcher and Strategist at OrangeTee Group, the previous record was set in November 2024, with 512 new homes in the OCR sold for at least $2 million.
Tucked away in the bustling neighborhood of Tampines,
Of the 603 OCR homes that transacted for at least $2 million, 596 were non-landed homes, with a majority of units coming from ParkTown Residence (397 units), Elta (145 units), and Hillock Green (16 units). PropNex’s Wong observes that the average unit prices of recent launches have “decoupled from the sub-market where these projects are located”. This means that while property prices typically follow a hierarchy with the CCR being the most expensive, followed by the RCR and then the OCR, recent launches indicate a shift in this trend.
For instance, Wong points out that The Collective at One Sophia, a CCR project launched in November last year, has sold 73 units at an average price of $2,743 psf based on URA data up until the end of February. “This is lower than the average transacted price of units sold at Union Square Residences ($3,175 psf) in the RCR, and only slightly higher than that of The Orie ($2,734 psf), also in the RCR,” she explains. Similarly, recent OCR launches such as Chuan Park, Elta, and Bagnall Haus have registered average unit prices of $2,589 psf, $2,544 psf, and $2,489 psf respectively, surpassing RCR project Nava Grove, which logged an average unit price of $2,460 psf.
This narrowing price gap between regions can be attributed to various factors, including specific attributes of projects, pricing based on amenities offered, demand by HDB upgraders, and the location of certain projects on the border between the CCR and OCR. Wong predicts that this trend may continue in the coming months as new RCR projects located just off the CCR, such as One Marina Gardens and future developments on Zion Road residential sites, come to market.
With recent launches in March such as the 477-unit Lentor Central Residences, the 188-unit Aurea, and the 760-unit Aurelle of Tampines EC, having collectively sold over 1,150 units as of mid-March, ERA Singapore’s CEO Marchus Chu expects a strong finish to the quarter. In light of the robust sales performance in the first quarter, ERA has revised its projection for new private home sales for the whole of 2025 to be between 8,500 and 9,000 units, an increase from the previous range of 7,000 to 8,000.
Meanwhile, Huttons’ Lee estimates that developers will exceed 3,200 units in sales (excluding ECs) for the first quarter of the year, which would make it the highest first-quarter sales since 2021. Moving into the second quarter, upcoming launches potentially include the 358-unit Bloomsbury Residences, the 937-unit One Marina Gardens, the 638-unit W Residences Singapore – Marina View, and the 107-unit Arina East Residences. However, despite the strong momentum experienced at the start of the year, not all projects launched in the coming months may perform equally well, notes Knight Frank’s Tay. He highlights that homebuyer demand will largely depend on the specific location and attributes of each individual project, with some projects performing better than others.
