February Developers%E2%80%99 Sales Surge 13 Year High 1575 Units Sold

Fresh launches have kept the strong momentum in new private home sales going in February. According to data released by URA on March 17, developers sold 1,575 units last month, excluding executive condos (ECs). This represents a 45.4% increase from the 1,083 units sold in January.

Compared to February 2024, the number of new home sales in February this year was over 10 times higher, reflecting a surge in demand. It is also the highest February developer sales figure in 13 years, since 2,417 units were sold in February 2012, according to Tricia Song, CBRE’s head of research for Singapore and Southeast Asia. If ECs are included, a total of 1,604 units were sold last month, a 45.3% increase from January.

Developers have already sold 2,658 units (excluding ECs) since the beginning of the year. In contrast, it took them eight months to sell a similar number of units last year, according to Leonard Tay, head of research at Knight Frank Singapore. This is a strong indication of the strong demand in the market.

The strong performance in February was led by two major launches in the Outside Central Region (OCR): The 1,193-unit ParkTown Residence in Tampines North and the 501-unit Elta on Clementi Avenue 1. ParkTown Residence sold 1,041 units at a median price of $2,363 psf, making it the top-selling project for the month. This translates to an 87% take-up rate at the integrated project, jointly developed by UOL Group and CapitaLand Development. Meanwhile, Elta sold 326 units at a median price of $2,538 psf, and was the second best-performing project in February. Both projects are located in suburban neighbourhoods that have not seen new supply in the past five years, contributing to their strong sales performance.

Overall, developers launched a total of 1,694 units for sale in February, a significant increase of 89% from the 896 units launched in January. The majority of new private homes sold in February were in the OCR, which accounted for 92% of total sales. This is the best monthly showing for the OCR in over nine years, since 1,523 units were sold in July 2015, reports Wong Siew Ying, PropNex Realty’s head of research and content. Sales in the Rest of Central Region (RCR) made up 6.2% of the units sold, while sales in the Core Central Region (CCR) accounted for just 1.6% of the total.

In terms of buyer profile, Singapore citizens continued to make up the majority of new private home buyers at 92.4%, followed by permanent residents at 6.9%, according to Lee Sze Teck, senior director of data analytics at Huttons Asia. 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.

A record number of suburban homes were sold for over $2 million in February, with a total of 603 new private homes (including ECs) in the OCR transacting at this price range. This is the highest number of new suburban homes sold in a single month since URA data became available in 1995, surpassing the previous record in November 2024 with 512 units sold. This indicates a growing trend of premium homes being sought after in suburban areas.

The average unit prices of recent launches have also shown that the traditional pecking order of property prices, led by the CCR, followed by the RCR and then the OCR, may no longer always hold true. For example, a CCR project launched in November last year, The Collective at One Sophia, has sold 73 units at an average unit price of $2,743 psf, which is lower than the average prices of units sold in RCR projects such as Union Square Residences and The Orie. Similarly, recent OCR launches like Chuan Park, Elta and Bagnall Haus have registered average unit prices higher than RCR project Nava Grove. This could be due to a combination of factors such as site-specific attributes, demand from HDB upgraders, and location advantages of certain projects.

ERA Singapore has revised its new private home sales projection for 2025 to between 8,500 and 9,000 units, up from its previous projection of 7,000 to 8,000 units, in light of the robust sales in the first quarter. Huttons Asia estimates developers’ sales (excluding ECs) to exceed 3,200 units in the first quarter, making it the highest first-quarter sales since 2021.

Looking ahead, new launches in the second quarter include projects like Bloomsbury Residences and One Marina Gardens in the RCR, and W Residences Singapore – Marina View and Arina East Residences in the OCR. However, the success of these projects will depend on their specific location and property attributes, with some projects potentially performing better than others.