These three mass-market districts are flooded with unsold condos

District 19 has over 4,202 unbought homes.

Buyers looking to buy a condo in Singapore might want to stay away from these three city fringe districts which boast the dubious distinction of having the most number of unsold homes.

After experiencing an unprecedented building boom in the wake of the Global Financial Crisis, these districts now account for around a third of total unsold inventory in the city-state.

A report by Maybank Kim Eng showed that District 19—particularly Serangoon Garden, Hougang and Ponggol—has the most number of unsold homes across the island.

There are 1,832 unsold Executive Condominiums in the district, along with 2,370 unsold private developments. This chalks up a total of 4,202 unsold units, making up 14.4% of total unsold inventory in Singapore.

District 27—namely Yishun and Sembawang—is hot on the heels of District 19, with a total of 3,531 unsold homes in the area. This figure is made up of 2,468 ECs and 1,063 private units, and makes up 12.1% of total unsold inventory in Singapore.

Meanwhile, there are 2,876 unsold private condominium units in Queenstown and Tiong Bahru in District 3. There are no ECs in this area, and these homes make up 9.9% of total unsold stock in Singapore.

Maybank Kim Eng is convinced that the mass market homes face a huge risk because prices in this sector have only fallen marginally.

“We reiterate that the mass market has the biggest downside risk. This is because prices in OCR have corrected the least since GFC. Furthermore, recent increases in the household-income ceiling for the application of ECs from SGD12,000 to SGD14,000 could shrink the pool of mass-market home buyers,” Maybank Kim Eng said.