Property Herald: End of US-Iran war expected to increase residential property sales

Introduction

After the robust sales of 2,848 dwelling units in the Singapore private residential primary market in March and April 2026 on the back of the strong supply of new housing units released by developers, new property sales decreased 71.1% month-on-month to 447 housing units last month.

Why housing sales are slow in May

The lower housing sales in May is mainly due to sharp 75% decline in the number of new residential units launched by real estate developers. The 357 private housing units released by developers for sale in May are all located in the Rest of Central Region (RCR). No new housing unit in the Core Central Region (CCR), the suburban Outside Central Region (OCR) was released last month. At the same time, there was also an absence of new EC unit released last month.

After launching four major residential projects with a total of 2,538 units in March and April, most developers are letting the market to digest the stock of unsold units and would likely resume the new launches after the June school vacation. As a result, private residential primary sales in May and June would stay below the 500-unit level each month.

New project launch in May

The 327-unit Hudson Place Residences was the only residential project launched in May, with 209 units sold at the median price of $2,465 psf. The 209 units sold in this development made up 46.8% of all units sold in the primary market last month.

When the sales from one single residential project dominates the primary housing sales in the entire property market, it signifies that sales are significantly low for the whole market in May.

Bestselling housing projects in May

The five bestselling residential projects last month were concentrated in the RCR, which accounted for four of the five most popular housing developments. The other bestselling project outside the RCR was an Executive Condominium (EC) development in the OCR. No residential project in the CCR project made the top 5 bestseller list.

Median prices among the top-selling projects ranged from $1,827 psf to $2,976 psf, as shown in Table 1.

Table 1: Bestselling residential projects in May 2026

Project Name	Street Name	Market Segment	Total no. of units in project	Total no. of unsold units	Total no. of units sold	Median price ($psf)
Hudson Place Residences	Media Circle	RCR	327	118	209	$2,465
Coastal Cabana (Exec Condo)	Jalan Loyang Besar	OCR	748	139	29	$1,827
Union Square Residences	Havelock Road	RCR	366	199	19	$2,800
The Continuum	Thiam Siew Avenue	RCR	816	45	19	$2,752
One Marina Gardens	Marina Gardens Lane	RCR	937	300	18	$2,976

Source: Mogul.sg Research, URA

The top selling project in May was Hudson Place Residences, which 209 units were sold at a median price of $2,465 psf. The project's strong take-up rate was likely supported by its relatively attractive pricing compared to the other RCR developments in the top five, which had higher median prices ranging from $2,752 psf to $2,976 psf. This pricing advantage may have appealed to buyers seeking an RCR location without paying a significant premium.

The second bestselling project was Coastal Cabana, a 748-unit Executive Condominium development in Pasir Ris, which recorded 29 units sold last month at a median price of $1,827 psf.

The demand for new EC units in the coming months would be enhanced by policy changes announced in the first week of May. These measures included the introduction of a 10-year Minimum Occupation Period (MOP) for primary EC buyers and the removal of the Deferred Payment Scheme (DPS) for EC projects built on land sold after 8 May 2026.

As the land parcel of Coastal Cabana is acquired prior to the implementation of these measures and is exempt from the new restrictions, prospective buyers are drawn to this project and other EC developments that are unaffected by the new policies.

Going forward

With the announcement that the US and Iran has reached a deal to halt the war and to reopen the Strait of Hormuz to shipping, bullish sentiments are flooding the global financial markets. Some of the exuberance could spill over to the local real estate market.

The slowdown in release of new residential projects in May and June would also allow property developers to recalibrate their pricing strategies for their upcoming launches in July and August, especially in light of the rising optimism from the US-Iran agreement to halt the war.

At the same time, the positive sentiments would also build up “pent-up” buying demand in anticipation of the new residential launches.

Real estate developers sold 10,815 private housing units in 2025. In the first five months of this year, they have chalked sales of up 4,008 residential units and could breach the 10,000-unit annual sales benchmark again by the end of this year. Such a rapid pace of property sales would increase policy risk as it resembles the property market in 2017 and 2018, before the government surprised the market with a round of cooling measures in July 2018.