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Homebuyers snapped up some 1,150 new condominium units over the weekend with Lentor Central Residences claiming top spot and executive condo project Aurelle of Tampines following hot on its heels, while residential tower Aurea had a more muted showing.

Excluding executive condominiums (ECs), the weekend tally buoys home sales for the first three months of the year to more than 3,200 units, marking the highest first-quarter sales since 2021, estimated Huttons Asia chief executive officer Mark Yip.

This is almost on a par with developer’s sales of 3,420 units last quarter.

Last November, property developers unleashed an unprecedented line-up of six new projects. Then, Emerald of Katong, Nava Grove and Novo Place EC chalked up the strongest launch sales the real estate trade had seen in the recent past.

Huttons’ Yip explained that the strong demand seen in the past few months was bolstered by fundamentals, such as a sharp rise in wealth and interest rate cuts.

But Mogul.sg chief research officer Nicholas Mak cautioned that such contrasting sales could spell trouble for other projects in the Core Central Region (CCR) slated to be launched this year.

These numbers indicate that residential properties in the Outside Central Region (OCR) are drawing more demand than those in the prime districts, he said.

The divergence shows that the private residential property market is turning into a “two-speed market with the high-end market segment stuck in the second gear”, said Mak.

He further noted that the market is showing signs of being “frothy”.

“In a typical stable property market, it is unusual for a major residential project with more than 400 units to sell 90 per cent or more of the entire development in the first two days of the launch,” Mak explained.

In the case of such strong showings with new EC launches, the property veteran saw no need for the buyer’s income ceiling eligibility to be raised.

“If the government were to succumb to the calls from property agencies to raise the buyer’s income ceiling eligibility, it would only lead to higher EC prices and reduce the affordability of ECs for those in the lower-middle income group,” said Mak.

Lentor Central Residences: Stellar showing

The 477-unit Lentor Central Residences at Lentor Hills Road had a take-up rate of 93.3 per cent as at 5 pm on Sunday (Mar 9), with 445 units sold at an average price of S$2,200 per square foot (psf), said developers Hong Leong Holdings, GuocoLand and CSC Land Group.

PropNex chief executive Ismail Gafoor noted that the average price achieved at Lentor Central Residences’ launch was competitive for an OCR project.

He compared this with the average selling price of S$2,579 psf at the launch of Lorong Chuan’s Chuan Park in November, S$2,537 psf at Clementi’s Elta and S$2,360 psf at Tampines’ Parktown Residence last month.

Describing it as having the right pricing, Gafoor attributed the condominium’s sales performance to its convenient location near an MRT station and commercial offerings as well as the tight, unsold stock from existing projects in the area.

Before Lentor Central Residences was launched, more than 90 per cent of the combined 2,477 units from the five previous launches in the new estate had been transacted – a testament to the “resilient demand” for mass market private condominiums among Singaporean buyers, he noted.

ERA Singapore chief executive Marcus Chu echoed the same sentiment.

As at early March, only 147 units remained available for sale across the earlier five Lentor Hills projects with the majority being three-bedroom and larger units, said Chu, adding that this sixth launch helped replenish the dwindling supply of new homes in the precinct.

The 158,263 square foot site that Lentor Central Residences sits on was acquired at the lowest land rate recorded for the area since the government started selling sites in the estate in 2021.

The parcel went for S$982 per square foot per plot ratio (psf ppr), compared with the previous five plots at S$985 to S$1,204 psf ppr.

Aurelle of Tampines: Strong EC demand

Executive condo Aurelle of Tampines sold 682 of its 760 units on the first day alone at an average selling price of S$1,766 psf, said Sim Lian Group.

The developer added that all four and five-bedroom units were sold, and that the 30 per cent quota allocated for second-timers was fully taken up by 3.15 pm on Saturday.

ERA Singapore’s key executive officer Eugene Lim noted that the take-up rate could have been higher without such mandatory data.

“The strong sales performance of the Aurelle of Tampines EC is testament to the robust demand for affordable private homes in Singapore,” said Lim.

He added that the project has filled a critical gap in the supply of new ECs with only slightly more than 100 such units remaining in the market.

Huttons’ Yip proposed an increase in the quota for second-timers buying an EC, bringing the policy in line with the recent increase in the allocation quota for second-timers buying three-room and larger build-to-order flats.

He highlighted that this second EC project in Tampines North had attracted more than 1,700 electronic applications – the highest since Tengah Town’s first EC, Copen Grand, which was fully sold a month after its launch in 2022.

Aurea: Modest launch performance

Of the 188 units available in the 45-storey residential tower Aurea in Beach Road, 23 were sold at an average price of S$3,005 psf, said developers Perennial Holdings and Far East Organization on Sunday.

This works out to a take-up rate of 12.2 per cent.

Huttons’ Yip said: “CCR projects usually sell around 10 to 30 per cent of their units during the launch weekend as they lack the large pool of HDB upgraders that suburban projects attract.”

He added that the supply of new homes is “very limited” in District 7, with Aurea likely being the only new launch there this year.

PropNex’s Gafoor described the sales as “encouraging”, particularly in a CCR market that has been mostly lacklustre since the tightening of the additional buyer’s stamp duty measure in April 2023, he said.

“Viewed through this lens of a tepid CCR segment, we can take heart from Aurea’s sales performance, and we believe the take-up will improve progressively,” added Gafoor.

“Anecdotally, we have observed that CCR projects tend to transact units steadily over many months, rather than achieve blockbuster sales over the launch weekend, unlike some RCR (Rest of Central Region) and OCR projects.”