Singapore auction volume hit 4-year high as banks auction more homes

SINGAPORE: Singapore properties put up for auction by banks have pushed the city’s auction volume to a four-year high after owners couldn’t keep up with their mortgage payments.

Data from ETC, a member of Realion Group, showed that of the 529 properties listed for auction in 2025, 333 were mortgagee sales. Total listings jumped 22 per cent from 433 in 2024, with mortgagee sales driving much of the increase.

Instead of seller behaviour, the rise in mortgagee listings reflects tighter financing conditions and a more cautious economic climate, said ETC’s head of auction and sales Joy Tan, who pointed out that owner-sale listings historically dominated auction listings, The Edge Singapore reported.

Data from ETC showed only 28.9 per cent were owner-led listings, much lower than mortgagee-sale listings.

Ms Tan adds that the only other year when mortgagee-sale listings were higher than owner-sale listings was in 2020, when the market was full of disruptions, shifting auction dynamics.

Over half of the property listings were residential properties; the rest were industrial assets (22.5 per cent), retail units (21.7 per cent), offices (2.5 per cent), shophouses (2.1 per cent), and other property assets (0.4 per cent).

Transaction value at auction rose 126 per cent year-on-year (YoY), reaching S$64.8 million, thanks to several high-value properties sold for more than S$5 million.

This year, Ms Tan expects the auction market to remain active, with the possibility of more “high-quantum listings”.

Public housing transactions, however, fell in the final quarter of 2025, even as resale flat prices held steady, Real Estate Asia reported.

Only 5,256 flats were resold in last year’s fourth quarter, down from 7,221 in the previous quarter. Propnex noted this was also the weakest quarterly resale volume since the second quarter of 2020.

Propnex said while resale flat prices have essentially “plateaued” in the fourth quarter of 2025, the lower transaction volumes suggest that homebuyers are taking a “measured approach”. The cautious trend among homebuyers is also expected to continue for the year. /TISG

Read also: Million-dollar HDB resale flats rise nearly 50% to over 1,500 in 2025