Sales of newly built private condominiums jumped five-fold to 1,412 units in July, from 278 units in June, according to data released by Singapore's Urban Redevelopment Authority on Tuesday. It was the highest since November 2021, when more than 1,500 homes were sold as Singapore eased restrictions on the New Crown epidemic.
Singapore's property market has been buoyant in recent years, but the hot housing market has shown signs of slowing down, with private home prices falling for the first time in three years in the 2nd quarter.
The latest figures show that Singaporean home buyers are ignoring rising interest rates and the government's latest housing crackdown.
Singapore announced in April this year that it would raise the stamp duty for Singaporean citizens buying a second home or more, and foreign buyers also saw their stamp duty doubled to 60 per cent, causing the local housing market to cool slightly in the following quarter.
However, sales of new properties launched in July were strong. Grand Dunman, which has 1,008 flats, sold more than half of its flats last month. Lentor Hills Residences, a joint venture between Fung Loong Holdings and other companies, sold 55 per cent of its 598 flats in July.
Christine Sun, senior vice-president of research and analysis at OrangeTee & Tie, said sales could fall in August due to a lack of large-scale project launches, and that figures for the rest of the month could be "volatile".
An analysis of the data by Singapore-based PropNex Realty showed that the proportion of new private condominiums purchased by Singaporeans reached 85 per cent in the second quarter, a nearly two-year high.
While local buyers were not deterred, the number of new private condominiums purchased by foreigners in the sub-quarter fell 23 per cent to 109 from 141 in the previous three months, PropNex noted.
PropNex chief executive officer Ismail Ghafoor said, "As demand from foreign investors slows down, local buyers will face less competition."
He expects house prices to rise by 4 per cent to 5 per cent throughout 2023, supported by a series of new property launches in the coming months.
