17 February 2025, Singapore - Developers' sales rebounded strongly in January 2025 helped by robust sales at new launch project The Orie, and transactions at One Bernam in the city. There were 1,083 new private homes (ex. executive condos) sold in January, marking a more than five times jump in sales from the 203 units shifted in December 2024. This is the best-performing sales in the month of January since 1,633 units were transacted in January 2021. On a year-on-year basis, last month's sales were up by about 256% from 304 units sold in January 2024.

The two new major projects launched in January - The Orie and Bagnall Haus - collectively sold 755 units, while previously-launched project One Bernam shifted 99 units during the month. All in, these three projects made up about 79% of the developers' sales in January. Thanks to the healthy take-up at The Orie, the Rest of Central Region was the top performer among the sub-markets in January, amidst a broad-based increase in transactions across all three regions on a month-on-month basis.

Developers placed 896 new units (ex. EC) for sale in January, up sharply from the 20 units launched in December. The launched units were from The Orie, Bagnall Haus, and another fresh project, being the 6-unit The Gatz in Geylang, in District 14.

Source: PropNex Research, URA (17 February 2024)

The Rest of Central Region (RCR) saw 771 new homes sold during the month, with 88% of the sales coming from The Orie, a new project near the Braddell MRT station. To this end, The Orie was the star performer in January, selling 680 of its 777 units at a median price of $2,731 psf. Several RCR projects also continued to move units at a steady clip, including Pinetree Hill, The Continuum, Nava Grove, and Union Square Residences. Meanwhile, the 846-unit Emerald of Katong sold 10 units at a median price of $2,871 psf - taking the overall sales to 843 units (or 99.6% of the total) as at end-January, since the project hit the market in November 2024. With no fresh launches slated the RCR in February, new home sales in this sub-market will likely moderate this month.

Over in the Outside Central Region (OCR), developers sold 191 new homes in January, up from 111 units in the previous month. The top three most popular OCR projects in the month were freehold development Bagnall Haus which sold 75 units at a median price of $2,494 psf, Hillock Green which moved 21 units at a median price of $2,253 psf, and Chuan Park which transacted 20 units at a median price of $2,654 psf. Developers' sales in the OCR are expected to surge in February, as two new projects - the 501-unit ELTA in Clementi and the 1,193-unit Parktown Residence in Tampines - will be launched for sale (on 22 February).

Sales also picked up markedly in the Core Central Region (CCR), with developers shifting 121 units in January compared with 19 units in December. One Bernam accounted for about 82% of CCR new sales in the month, transacting 99 units at a median price of $2,521 psf. This is the best monthly sales tally at One Bernam since the project was launched in May 2021, where it shifted 74 units. Based on caveats lodged, the 351-unit One Bernam is now fully-sold having transacted the last three remaining units in February.

Meanwhile, EC sales fell sharply from 170 units in December to 21 units in January, amid of a dearth in new EC launches, as well as dwindling unsold EC stock in the market. Based on URA's data, there were only 148 unsold new EC units as at the end of January. This tight supply of unsold stock should bode well for the upcoming EC project, Aurelle of Tampines which will offer 760 new EC units.

Ms Wong Siew Ying, Head of Research & Content, PropNex Realty said:

"New private homes sales surged in January, with 1,083 units (ex. EC) sold - marking only the second time where developers' sales cross four-digit figures in 18 months. Prior to January's sales and the 2,560 units shifted in November 2024, new private home sales have never crossed the 1,000-unit mark since 1,413 units were sold in July 2023.

In our view, buying sentiment has improved substantially since the tail-end of 2024, with the moderation in interest rates and influx of new launches being the key catalyst for sales. The sales momentum seen in November has carried into the new year, and we anticipate healthy interest for the two new upcoming launches - ELTA and Parktown Residence - in February. The 501-unit ELTA in Clementi Avenue 1 drew more than 4,500 visitors to its showflat during its preview, while the 1,193- unit Parktown Residence, an integrated development in Tampines pulled in over 10,000 visitors during the first three days of its public preview. We expect the two projects to do well, given that Clementi and Tampines are popular among homebuyers - being mature towns with a good connectivity and a range of amenities.

Meanwhile, some of the new launches slated for March include the 188-unit Aurea, 477-unit Lentor Central Residences, and EC project Aurelle of Tampines. With more than 1,000 new units (ex. EC) already transacted in January, and the potential new home sales upside in February and March, we expect developers' sales in Q1 2025 to outperform the first quarter sales in each of the last three years, where fewer than 2,000 units (ex. EC) were sold.

Based on caveats lodged, the median unit price of non-landed private homes sold in the CCR in January 2025 fell by 10.5% MOM and was down by 20.2% YOY to $2,538 psf in the month (see Table 1). This is mainly due to the transactions at One Bernam, where about 82% of the 99 units sold in January were priced below $2,600 psf, following discounts offered by the developer. Meanwhile, the median unit price in the RCR and OCR both posted growth in January. In particular, the median transacted unit price in the RCR climbed by about 4% MOM to $2,725 psf - surpassing that of the CCR - on the back of sales done at The Orie.

Table 1: Median transacted unit price ($PSF) of non-landed private new homes sold (ex. EC) by region by month

Home sales remained driven by local buyers in January, with Singaporeans and Singapore PRs accounting for 90.3% and 8.5% of the non-landed private new home transactions (ex. EC). Foreigners (non-PR) made up just 1.2% (or 13 caveats) of the sales, as the punitive additional buyer's stamp duty (ABSD) measure continues to bite.

In view of the larger supply of new launches this year, PropNex forecasts that developers' sales could come in at 8,000 to 9,000 units (ex. EC) for the whole of 2025 - which would be the highest annual transaction volume in four years, should sales pan out as projected (Developers' sales previously - 2022: 7,099 units, 2023: 6,421 units, 2024: 6,469 units)."

Table 2: Top-Selling Private Residential Projects (ex. EC) in January 2025