Suburban private housing market takes spotlight with surge in new supply

OCR project launches were limited in the past five years.

Singapore’s suburban residential market is poised to take centre stage this year with more than 4,400 new private homes launching in the next 12 months, according to OrangeTee & Tie. 

In a report, OrangeTee said 50% of the 8,800 private homes, excluding executive condos, that will be launched this year are in the Outside the Central Region (OCR), 30% in the Rest of the Central Region (RCR) and the remaining 20% in the Core Central Region (CCR).

This will mark the highest percentage of suburban project launches in seven years, when the OCR accounted for 72% of the private homes launched in 2017.

The property consultancy stressed that the new housing supply in the suburbs has been limited over the past years as the volume of condos launched only averaged at 3,495 units each year from 2019 through 2023, compared to the 9,860 units released annually from 2009 to 2013.

“The increase in launched units may help meet the pent-up demand for private homes in the suburbs and slow down the pace of price growth for new condos,” OrangeTee said.

It said some of the project launches to watch out for in OCR this year includes the 440-unit SORA, 533-unit Lentor Mansion, 512-unit Lumina Grand EC, and the 345-unit at Champions Way.

READ MORE: New home sales tumble to near 15-year low in December 

Island-wide, OrangeTee expects prices of private homes to moderate this year and rise by just 3% to 6% amid the flurry of project launches scheduled throughout 2024.