In review: Troubles faced by Singapore residential market in Q1

Residential units launched during the quarter dropped 73.1%.

The implementation of a new round of cooling measures, followed by the celebration of the Chinese New Year, dragged Singapore’s residential market’s performance in the first quarter. 

During the quarter, the number of residential units launched dropped 73.1% quarter-on-quarter to 613 from 2,275 in the fourth quarter of 2021, property consultant Savills reported. 

Savills noted this was the first time the market saw the number of units launched fall below the 1,000 mark since the end of 2017. The Q1 2022 figure is also lower by 83.5% on a year-on-year basis. 

“With a significant decline in the number of launched units, as well as the effects from the recalibrated cooling measures, fewer homebuyers made an appearance,” the report read in part. 

This led to the contraction of new home sales by another 39.5% to 1,825 units during the quarter. This is also the first time since the second quarter of 2020 that new home sales fell below 2,000 units.

The secondary sales market also suffered as it declined for the second consecutive quarter by 28.3% to 3,518 units. This is an even larger contraction compared to 11.3% in the previous quarter.

“There was a sharp decline in transaction volume for non-landed homes across all residency status,” Savills noted. 

“This could be attributed to the implementation of the recalibrated cooling measures which came into effect on 16 December 2021.”