Primary sales of private homes likely to moderate to 10,000 units

This follows the slower launches in the market.

Primary sales activities for private homes are likely to moderate to over 10,000 units as there are slower overall launch activities, real estate consultancy company, Edmund Tie & Company, said.

In its report, the firm said rising interest rates and tighter financing rules could also be attributed to expected moderate performance for the market.

It also expects buyers to adopt a “wait-and-see” approach whilst they observe the impact of the December 2021 cooling measures.

But for the outside central region and the rest of the central region (RCR) market segments, the reopening of borders and sustained economic growth will fuel demand for the private homes market.

With the diminishing unsold stock, developers will continue to retain pricing power but they must lookout for a sweet spot for home prices as the total debt servicing ratio limit was decreased to 55%.

Meanwhile, the real estate expert said there is also a rise in demand for larger units in the first quarter (Q1) of 2022, with a quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) price increase at 1.7% for units spanning 1,500 square feet and above.

This was mainly due to hybrid work schemes and more employers shifting to flexible work-from-home arrangements.

For foreign buyers, homes sold to foreigners went down QoQ from 3.9% in the fourth quarter of 2021 to 3.2% in Q1 2022. 

Americans took the top spot for foreign demand in both the core central region and RCR, overtaking Mainland Chinese because US citizens are exempted from additional buyer’s stamp duty on their first residential property purchase in Singapore due to free-trade agreement.