As the once-booming market sentiment continued to weaken, Singapore's new home sales barely increased in June, setting the weakest record for the first half of the year in at least 20 years.
The Zhitong Finance App learned that as the once prosperous market sentiment continued to weaken, there was almost no increase in new home sales in Singapore in June, setting the weakest record for the first half of the year in at least 20 years.
Developers sold 228 apartments last month, up from 221 in May, according to data released by the Urban Renewal Authority of Singapore on Monday. According to preliminary calculations, this means that the first six months of 2024 sold less than 2,000 units, which is the first half of the year with the fewest data available since 2004.
The final data released later this month may revise the initial value of housing sales data for the second quarter.
High interest rates and the government's cooling measures have slowed the Singapore housing market. Meanwhile, ahead of the upcoming elections, the city-state's ruling party is struggling to address voters' concerns about housing affordability, with policymakers increasing private housing supply to its highest level in more than a decade.
Citibank analyst Brandon Lee wrote in a report on Monday that although the prospect of falling mortgage interest rates in the future will boost sales, existing cooling measures will still have a lingering impact. He said, “Given the huge number of properties to be launched and projects with lower land costs will be launched soon, we expect buyers to be patient.”
The slowdown in real estate market growth is likely to continue until July. In a large-scale project launched earlier this month, less than a quarter of 440 homes were sold in the first weekend.
Despite this, real estate valuations are still very high. According to data compiled by real estate agent OrangeTee Group, private home prices rose for the fourth consecutive quarter, while sales of public housing in the first half of the year set a record of at least S$1 million ($0.745 million). According to a report by the Swiss Baosheng Group, rising housing prices have made Singapore the financial center the third most expensive city in the world for private housing.