Singapore Apartment Market Cools as Public Home Sales Plunge

Singapore’s housing market is flashing early signs of cooling as recent property curbs weigh on buyer demand.

Resales of apartments owned by the Housing & Development Board -- Singapore’s public housing authority -- plunged 24.1% in October, according to data compiled by real estate portals 99.co and SRX. That’s the biggest monthly decline since April 2020, when sales fell 78.3% during a country-wide Covid-19 lockdown.

Singapore is taking steps to tighten housing loan limits after largely defying the global property downturn. Analysts had been expecting home-price growth to slow in the final quarter of 2022 following the curbs and the increase in borrowing costs. 

“The drop in sales was within expectation, as there will usually be a knee-jerk reaction in the immediate aftermath of a fresh round of cooling measures,” said Christine Sun, senior vice president of research and analytics at OrangeTee & Tie.

Some 1,965 HDB resale apartments changed hands in October, the data showed. That sector of the market is expected to remain subdued until early 2023, according to Nicholas Mak, the Singapore-based head of research and consultancy at APAC Realty Ltd. unit ERA.