SINGAPORE - Two new suburban launches, including a rare freehold project in Pasir Ris, helped fuel a rebound in new private home sales in July, but the monthly sales average so far in 2024 remains muted as more buyers turned resistant to higher home prices and amid delays in interest rate cuts. According to Urban Redevelopment Authority data released on Aug 15, developers sold 571 private homes in July, excluding executive condominiums (ECs), more than double the 228 units sold in June, but about 60 per cent lower than the 1,413 units sold in July 2023. The 571 units sold is still “a decade-low for the month of July, and is below the five-year historical average of 1,223 units for that month,” Ms Tricia Song, CBRE’s head of research for South-east Asia, said.
July’s sales take the year-to-date tally of new homes sold to 2,460 units, down 48.7 per cent from 4,796 units sold between January and July in 2023. Knight Frank research head Leonard Tay noted that from January to July 2024, the monthly average has been “muted at 357 units, compared with the monthly average of 556 in 2023, 616 in 2022 and 1,114 in 2021.
Even in 2020 when movement restrictions were imposed due to the pandemic, the monthly average was 861 units”. Based on quantum size, the largest proportion of new private homes sold in July (excluding ECs) ranged between $1 million and $1.5 million, “a shift away from the $1.
5 million to $2 million range for most months, which could indicate increased buye.