_Monthly Developer Sales - June 2023
Based on the monthly data for developers’ sales from the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA), there were 278 homes (excluding Executive Condominiums (ECs)) sold by developers in June 2023, a 73.2% drop from the 1,039 units sold in May 2023, and 43.0% less than the 488 units transacted in June last year. A total of about 3,463 units were sold in the first six months of 2023.
The sudden drop in developer sales in June 2023, was mainly due to a lack of new launches during the month. Developers, especially those who were preparing to launch larger scale projects of more than 500 units, waited out the school holidays only to line these up for launch in July. As most developers timed their launches to avoid the vacation period, a mere total of 31 units were launched in June, almost 51 times less than the 1,595 units launched in May.
The 31 units launched in June 2023 is the all-time record lowest number of units launched since this monthly data series became available in 2007. The sole project Lavender Residence, launched in June with 17 units, out of which eight units were sold.
Despite the low number of units launched and the muted new sales volume, demand for new private residential homes bought off plan evidently remains as The Myst, Lentor Hills Residences, Pinetree Hill and Grand Dunman all launched in July with varying levels of initial take-up, exhibiting that homebuyer activity is very much alive, especially for suburban homes. Demand for such units in the remaining months of 2023 will continue to be underpinned by homebuyers purchasing for their own occupation, as household balance sheets remain healthy.
Many of these new families are also often backed by recycled capital from earlier generations of Singaporeans who benefited from asset appreciation as Singapore progressed from a developing to a developed nation. Although homebuyers now also have to contend with the latest round of cooling measures implemented in May, coupled with the sticky high interest rates and the possibility of a technical recession, the total expected number of new sales is still on track to range from 7,000 to 8,000 units as earlier projected by Knight Frank at the end of 2022.
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