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[SINGAPORE] Prices of private residential property rose 1 per cent in the second quarter of 2025, as sales volume fell almost 30 per cent quarter on quarter with few new projects launched.

Latest government data showed that the private property index rose faster than the earlier released flash estimate of 0.5 per cent, and slightly higher than the first-quarter increase of 0.8 per cent.

While overall prices continued to rise during the quarter on much lower volume, “performance across different market segments shows varied responses to both external and internal factors, revealing a nuanced landscape”, said Chia Siew Chuin, JLL’s head of residential research, research and consultancy, Singapore.

Core Central Region (CCR) non-landed homes led the gains, with their prices rising by 3 per cent. Prices were lifted by the debut of 21 Anderson, where five units were sold at a median of S$4,811 per square foot (psf), as well as continued sales in other CCR projects already on the market.

In contrast, prices in the Rest of Central Region fell 1.1 per cent “even with new project launches during the quarter”, noted Chia. One Marina Gardens sold 479 units in Q2 at a median price of S$2,950 psf, while Bloomsbury Residences moved 158 units at a median price of S$2,473 psf. 

And despite the lack of new project launches in the Outside Central Region, non-landed home prices increased by 1.1 per cent, more than the 0.3 per cent increase in Q1, added Chia.

Landed home prices, meanwhile, picked up pace and rose 2.2 per cent, faster than the 0.4 per cent growth in Q1. Huttons Asia chief executive Mark Yip pointed to a jump in the number of Good Class Bungalow transactions, with an estimated 11 deals valued at more than S$300 million lodged in Q2, significantly more than the two caveats filed in the previous quarter.

Year on year, overall prices were up 3.4 per cent in Q2. 

This brought price growth for the half-year to 1.8 per cent, moderating slightly from the 2.3 per cent increase recorded in the same period last year, said Ken Low, managing partner at Singapore Realtors Inc. 

With buyers turning price-conscious, “starting prices at some recent and upcoming launches are competitive, with several unit options for housing budgets of S$2.5 million or below, which is roughly the pricing sweet-spot for many homebuyers today”, noted PropNex CEO Kelvin Fong.

Around two-thirds of new non-landed private homes, excluding executive condominiums (ECs), were sold for under S$2.5 million in Q2. Some 67 per cent of the units sold in the first two weeks of July were also in that price range. 

Overall sales volume, including sub-sales and resales, declined 29.4 per cent with 5,128 units transacted in Q2, from 7,261 in Q1. 

Volumes were at the lowest level since Q2 2024, when 4,915 units were sold, said Realion Group chief researcher and strategist Christine Sun. 

This was partly due to a drop in new supply, with developers launching 1,520 units, excluding ECs, for sale in Q2 – less than half of Q1’s 3,139 units. Election season in April and May and the school holiday lull in June also weighed on sales activity. 

In the EC market, no new projects were launched, but developers moved 149 already-marketed units in Q2. In the previous quarter, developers launched 760 EC units for sale and sold 830 EC units. 

New sales volume, excluding ECs, consequently fell to 1,212 units in Q2, from 3,375 units in Q1.

With the drop in new sales, unsold inventory of uncompleted private homes, excluding ECs, rose 2.1 per cent to 18,498 units in Q2. Including completed units, unsold inventory was up 2.1 per cent to 18,653 units. 

This is significantly lower than the last peak of 37,799 units registered in Q1 2019, said Tricia Song, CBRE research head for South-east Asia. 

The current level of unsold inventory translates to more than two years’ of landbank, based on the five-year annual average new sales volume of 8,600 units from 2020 to 2024, and 2024’s total developer sales of 6,469 units, she added. 

Turning to resale market

More homebuyers also turned to the resale market amid the dearth of new condo launches in Q2. Some 3,647 resale transactions were recorded – up from 3,565 units in the prior quarter. These deals accounted for 71.1 per cent of all sales in Q2, jumping from 49.1 per cent in Q1.

There were 269 sub-sale transactions in Q2, fewer than the 321 units transacted in the previous quarter. It was also the lowest volume of sub-sales recorded since Q1 2023, when 243 transactions were made, noted ERA CEO Marcus Chu. 

But sub-sales were up as a proportion of all sales, at 5.2 per cent in Q2, from 4.4 per cent in Q1 and 4.2 per cent in Q4 2024. 

With a long pipeline of new launches slated for the rest of the year, analysts expect sales to come in at the higher end of forecasts of 7,000 to 9,000 units for 2025, with prices pitched to rise between 3 and 5 per cent.

On the rental front, the Urban Redevelopment Authority’s (URA) overall index was up 0.8 per cent in the second quarter, extending from a 0.4 per cent increase in the prior quarter. The vacancy rate climbed to 7.1 per cent as at end-Q2, from 6.5 per cent in Q1.

Realion’s Sun noted that this was the fifth straight quarter of rents changing between minus 1 and 1 per cent, indicating a stabilisation in rents. It follows a 1.9 per cent rental correction in 2024. 

The slight rise in the rental index follows the completion of 980 private housing units in the first quarter, of which 639 were ECs.

This brought the number of units completed in the first half to around 3,000.

In the remaining half year in 2025, 3,236 private homes, including ECs, are set to be ready, based on the expected completion dates reported by developers. These comprise units with and without planning approval.

Another 8,195 units are expected to be completed in 2026, 11,227 units in 2027, and 11,584 units in 2028.

Beyond that, some 22,726 units are expected to be completed, said URA.  

With an uptick in housing completions coming ahead, CBRE’s Song expects rental growth to moderate further, rising 1 to 3 per cent for the whole of 2025. 

But the prime CCR, in particular, could see stronger rental growth in the next two years due to a low supply of completed homes in the area, said Huttons Asia’s Yip.