SINGAPORE: New private home sales in Singapore decreased by 53% last month, the lowest monthly sales volume so far this year. According to a Jun 16 (Monday) report from Bloomberg, the drop is largely due to tariff tensions around the globe, given the city-state’s trade-reliant economy.
Real Estate Asia also stated that the five-month low is due to a lack of new project launches. Data from the Urban Redevelopment Authority showed that May saw only 312 new private home transactions, excluding executive condominiums.
This represents a 53% decrease from the previous month, when 663 units were sold, according to Real Estate Asia, which quoted a release from PropNex Realty.
“This is the first month in 2025 where there have been no fresh projects put on the market. To this end, the decline in new home sales in May is not unexpected, as fresh project launches tend to drive transactions each month. With launch activity still subdued in June, developers’ sales are expected to remain relatively muted this month,” PropNex said.
Nevertheless, in comparison with the figures from May 2024, sales were higher by around 40% year on year.
Bloomberg’s report noted how Singapore’s outlook has dimmed after U.S. President Donald Trump began to push for tariffs early in April. Among other effects, this appears to have caused real estate developers in the city-state to grow wary, as evidenced by the fact that no major projects went on sale last month.
The report further cited a survey from the previous quarter among senior real estate executives that showed almost nine in 10 saying they considered a global economic slowdown as a risk. Following this, they said that job losses and a weaker domestic economy were their biggest concerns.
The majority of new private home sales in May were located in the Rest of Central Region (RCR), with 191 units transacted. Meanwhile, at Outside Central Region (OCR), 106 new units were sold. Sales at the Core Central Region (CCR) stayed low, with only 15 units sold. As for Executive Condominiums, there were 24 transactions in May, a 75% decrease from the 96 units sold in April.
“The market’s sluggish performance is expected to persist into June, typically a slow month due to school holidays. One project in the city’s east sold fewer than 10% of its 107 freehold units during its launch weekend earlier this month. It remains to be seen whether the drop in new home sales will impact prices. Private residential prices rose 0.8 per cent in the first quarter. Values may rise as much as 3% this year, Bloomberg Intelligence estimated in May,” the report added. /TISG
Read also: New private home sales surge over tenfold due to strong suburban demand