New private home sales down as trade tensions hit economic outlook

Fall in April comes despite more newly launched units, as buyers turn cautious

- Grace Leong

April's new private home sales fell short of expectations despite a surge in the number of newly launched units, as home buyers turned cautious amid ongoing global trade frictions and geopolitical tensions that have dampened Singapore's economic outlook.

New private home sales, excluding executive condominiums (ECs), slipped to 663 units in April from 729 in March, also on a dearth of major mass-market new launches, but this is more than double the 301 units sold in April 2024.

Excluding ECs, 1,344 new units were launched in April, compared with just 555 units in March, and up from a mere 278 units launched in April 2024. Including ECs, new home sales plunged to 759 in April from 1,510 in March, while the number of new units launched rose to 1,344 units from 1,315 over the same period. No new ECs were launched in April.

April's three new projects - One Marina Gardens, Bloomsbury Residences in Media Circle and the ultra-luxe 21 Anderson in Tanglin are situated in city fringe and prime locations, where launch prices tend to be higher, according to OrangeTee's chief researcher and strategist Christine Sun.