Q1 2024 Real Estate Statistics from URA

URA Private Residential Flash Estimates

Overall price growth in the private residential market continued to ease, as the URA All Residential Price Index increased 1.5% q-o-q, lower than the increase of 2.8% in Q4 2023.

The private home market will continue on the path towards stability, and perhaps even plateau in certain market segments, throughout 2024 as demand becomes more selective and measured with more options in upcoming launches. The expected incoming supply of about 10,000 private homes in the year ahead would also contribute to the stabilisation of private home prices.

Nonetheless, private home prices in the new launch market are expected to continue to be elevated due to committed land and construction costs. And this was evident when prices increased 3.1% q-o-q in the Core Central Region (CCR) in Q1 2024, contributed by the sales of Watten House.

Despite the lack of foreign buyers in the CCR due to the doubling of the Additional Buyer’s Stamp Duty rate to 60% in April 2023, Singaporeans and permanent residents continue to keenly watch the CCR for owner occupation in neighbourhoods where popular schools are located, and also for good value opportunities in prime areas.

Unlike the CCR, which has not been as active as other regions in recent years, prices in the Rest of Central Region (RCR) and Outside Central Region (OCR) were observed to have stabilised with marginal increments of 0.2% q-o-q and 0.4% q-o-q respectively.

Homebuyers in the RCR and OCR are taking more time to decide with more options, and are no longer displaying the rush for new product that characterised the pandemic and post-pandemic recovery years, especially with prices having stabilised in these areas. Given the combination of the above factors, private home prices are on track to grow by a more moderate 3% to 5% in 2024, lower than the 6.8% annual increase in 2023.

Landed home prices grew 3.4% q-o-q in Q1 2024, also easing from the 4.6% q-o-q in Q4 2023.Potential homebuyers continue to remain on the lookout for landed homes due to lifestyle preferences for larger indoor and outdoor spaces. Evergreen demand for freehold landed homes will be supported in 2024 by the aspirations of Singaporeans, with homebuyers willing to move out of locations that are familiar to them in search of such properties. However, the main obstacle to deals being successfully concluded will be the limited inventory of saleable stock.

General demand for private homes in the months ahead will remain underpinned mostly by homebuyers purchasing for their own occupation, even as these buyers take a longer time to consider in light of factors such as cooling measures, and job security. Given the spread of choices from current available projects and upcoming launches throughout the year, the buying decision of homebuyers will ultimately be motivated by the quality of the new project, location of the development, and the track record of the developer.