Developers sold 259 new private homes (excluding the Executive Condominium) in November, a 17.3% decline in sales from October and an 83% drop from November 2021 sales.

Three smaller developments, Hill House, Sophia Regency and Kovan Jewel, entered the market in November.

Hill House, with 72 units, sold 12 units at a median price of S$3,028psf, while Kovan Jewel, with 34 units, sold 4 units at a median price of S$2,120psf.

By market segment, new private home sales fell across the board from October to November. The Core Central Region (CCR) topped the sales charts in November with 148 units sold, accounting for approximately 57% of monthly sales.

The best-selling CCR projects for the month included Leedon Green with 16 units sold at a median price of S$2,851psf, One Holland Village Residences with 15 units sold at a median price of S$2,886psf and Perfect Ten with 14 units sold at a median price of S$3,154psf.

Meanwhile, the developer sold 73 new units in the rest of the Central Region (RCR) in November, down almost 10 per cent from the 81 units sold the previous month.

Riviere was the most popular RCR development in November, selling 19 units at a median price of S$3,024psf. It was followed by The Landmark with 13 units sold at a median price of S$2,459psf.

The Landmark, which is expected to receive its Provisional Occupation Permit (TOP) in the first quarter of 2023, has been selling units at a steady pace over the past few months; as of November, 87% of the total number of units have been sold.

The developer's sales outside the Central District (OCR) have been particularly sluggish, as a lack of new property openings and a depletion in the number of unsold units means that buyers have less choice.

A total of 38 new units were sold in the OCR in November, a 37% drop on October's sales. Lentor Modern was the best performing OCR project in November, with nine units sold at a median price of S$2,218psf.

Meanwhile, EC sales were 186 units in November, following strong sales of 498 units in the previous month. EC sales were driven by Copen Grand, which sold 176 EC units at a median price of S$1,323psf in November.

One month after its opening on 22 October 2022, Copen Grand in the brand new town of Tengah is now completely sold out.

The developer launched 319 new units (excluding EC) into the market in November, up from 102 units launched the previous month. no new EC was launched in November.

Developer sales were quite subdued in November, especially in the OCR, as there were no major new project launches in November and the inventory of unsold new units in the market is dwindling.

According to the URA, most of the existing OCR projects that have opened have sold between 80% and 100% of their total number of units, leaving buyers with a limited number of units to choose from.

Similarly, the stock of unsold new units in the RCR is also decreasing as the remaining units are being sold at a steady rate in the urban fringe projects. This imbalance between supply and demand is expected to continue to fester in December.

With very few units for sale, we expect upcoming developments such as Sceneca Residence, Lentor Hills Residences, The Botany@Dairy Farm and The Arden to reap good buying interest from pent-up demand in the first half of 2023.

In the first 11 months of 2022, developers sold approximately 6,980 new private homes (excluding EC).

Given the scarcity of new launches, the tight supply of units for sale and the seasonally slow year-end season, new private home sales for 2022 as a whole are expected to fall at around 7,300 units, a gradual normalisation from last year's sales of 13,027 units.

The decline in sales is mainly due to a fall in the number of properties launched on the market this year. Developers launched more than 4,400 new private homes for sale (excluding EC) in the first 11 months of 2022, well below the 10,000-plus units launched in the same period in 2021.

Meanwhile, the EC market remained buoyant in November, driven by Tenet, which is now sold out one month after launch.

We anticipate that Tenet EC will also be sold out a month after the opening when the quota for second-time buyers is removed.

In the face of high private property prices and rising interest rates, the well-located EC will continue to be a favourite among Singapore families as its value proposition is quite strong. On average, the price differential between new EC and OCR new developments this year is above S$700psf.

We believe that the new private residential sales market will end on a quieter note this year, but 2023 should bring more choices for potential buyers as more new projects are launched.

In addition, there is the possibility of a slower pace of interest rate hikes in 2023, which will provide homebuyers with increased confidence to enter the property market.