Property Herald: The Calm Before The Storm for Primary Housing Sales in March 2025

Summary

The primary residential sales in March remains robust as it is not yet affected by the economic uncertainty arising from the US trade policies that were announced in early April.

The developers' sales in 1Q 2025 was robust with an estimated 3,409 housing units and 831 EC units sold. However, the economic uncertainty could cause the primary housing sales in 2Q 2025 to be only about half of the sales volume in the first quarter.

In our opinion, the two segments in the Singapore housing market that would be less affected by the trade war would be the HDB primary market and the luxury property market, especially the luxury landed properties.

Introduction

Sales in the Singapore private primary residential property market slowed down in March 2025, with 729 private residential units (excluding Executive Condominium unit) sold. The decline in the number of properties sold by developers is mainly due to the decrease in the number of mass-market housing units launched last month.

However, homebuying demand in the primary market remained proportionately robust in March as the decrease in the number of private housing units sold is still less than the decline in the number of units launched. Developers launched 555 private housing units (excluding EC) in March; 67.2% fever than the preceding month. By comparison, they sold 54.4% fewer private residential units, which is a smaller decline compared to the 67.2% fall in the number of units launched.

New residential launches in March 2025

Three new residential projects with a total of 1,425 units were launched last month. The projects were Aurea, Lentor Central Residences and Aurelle of Tampines. All three projects were all launched on the weekend of 8th March. However, only 78 of the 188 units at Aurea were released for sale.

Aurelle of Tampines is an Executive Condominium (EC) development located along Tampines Street 62. With a site area of 301,391 square feet (sq ft) and a plot ratio of 2.5, the development will feature 760 residential units with condominium facilities.

Lentor Central Residences is a private 99-year leasehold condominium located near the Lentor MRT Station. It sits on a 158,264 sq ft site with a plot ratio of 2.8 and will comprise 477 residential units.

Table 1: New Residential Launches in March 2025

Residential Project	Street Name	Total no. of units	Median Price ($psf)	No. of units sold in March	% of units sold in March
Aurelle of Tampines (EC)	Tampines Street 62	760	$1,769	705	92.8%
Lentor Central Residences	Lentor Central	477	$2,213	460	96.4%
Aurea	Beach Road	188	$2,924	24	12.8%

Source: Mogul.sg Research, URA

Aurea, located at Beach Road on the site of the former Golden Mile Compelx, is another 99-year leasehold residential and commercial development with 188 apartment units. It is the first residential launch in the Core Central Region (CCR)

Bestselling residential project in March 2025

The bestselling project in March 2025 was Aurelle of Tampines in terms of the number of units sold. This strong sales of 705 EC units in this development can likely be attributed to the relatively more affortable pricing of $1,769 psf compared to those of private condominiums that were launched for sale during the same weekend.

In terms of the proportion of the total numbers of units sold in March, the bestselling residential project would be Lentor Central Residences, where 96.4% of the 477 units were sold in March at the median price of $2,213 psf.

Residential market in 1Q 2025 and Market outlook

Based on the preliminary numbers released today, property developers launched 3,145 private housing units and sold 3,409 units in the first three months of 2025. The primary residential sales in the first quarter is only 0.3% lower than the number sold in 4Q 2024 illustrating the continuing robust demand in the private housing market in the January to March period.

Table 2: Primary housing and EC units launched and sold

Source: Mogul.sg Research, URA

However, the martket and economic uncertainties arising from the looming global trade war unleased by the US government in April is likely to dim the outlook for the private housing market in the coming months. As the Singapore economy is heavily dependent on global trade, the geopolitical and trade friction would lead to greater uncertainties in the local job market and household income.

As a result, homebuyers are likely to be more cautious. At the same time, some developers could also delay the launch of their residential projects until there is more clarity in the market. A reduction in the number of housing units launched would generally cause a drop in developers' housing sales.

Hence, the primary residential sales in 2Q 2025 could be drop by half compared to the first quarter.

In our opinion, the two segments in the Singapore housing market that would be less affected by the trade war would be the HDB Build-to-Order (BTO) market and the luxury landed market. In the coming months, the HDB BTO flats would continue to draw eligible buyers as these new public housing flats sold by the government are the most affordable homes in Singapore. The risk-adverse homebuyers would also select homes that are more affordable, such as HDB flats.

At the other end of the price spectrum, the ultra-wealthy would have the means to ring-fence their wealth against the martketturbulence. Hence, they could take advantage of the uncertain market to look out for buying opportunities in the luxury real estate market, such as in the high-end landed housing segment.