SINGAPORE – Condominium resale prices rose 7.5 per cent in 2023, with December marking the fifth consecutive month of price growth for the market, according to flash data released by real estate portals 99.co and SRX on Jan 25.

Despite a smaller increase of 0.5 per cent in overall resale prices in December compared with 0.8 per cent the month before, fewer units changed hands, as expected during the year-end holiday season.

In 2023, the overall price growth was propped up primarily by homes in the city fringes and suburban regions, said Ms Christine Sun, chief researcher and strategist at OrangeTee Group.

This is because most of the recently completed condo units are concentrated in these two regions and newer units tend to command higher resale prices, which in turn boosted the overall price, she said.

Data showed that overall prices of units in the city fringe rose by 8.3 per cent and those in the suburban region increased by 8.2 per cent, while those in the central region rose by 4 per cent.

However, resale transactions were down around 15 per cent in 2023 with an estimated 10,166 units resold, compared with 11,949 units in 2022, said Huttons Asia chief executive Mark Yip.

“The lower volume in 2023 could be due to the high interest rate environment and rising resale condo prices, which may have kept out price-sensitive buyers,” he said.

Mr Luqman Hakim, chief data and analytics officer at 99.co, said he expects the condo resale market to continue to slow down in the first quarter of 2024, as there will be more new condo launches this year compared with 2023.

The estimated 10 to 15 new condo launches expected in the first quarter of 2024 alone will be in direct competition with the condo resale market, he said.

The Arcady at Boon Keng in the city fringe sold about 30 per cent of its units on launch day, while suburban condo Hillhaven at Hillview Rise sold about 17 per cent of its total units. They were the first two new condo launches in 2024.

In line with the increased supply in the new launch market, OrangeTee’s Ms Sun expects condo resale prices to rise slower in 2024, by 3 per cent to 5 per cent.

The percentage of sub-sale transactions in December stood at 13 per cent, up 1 percentage point from November. Sub-sale transactions are secondary sale transactions before a project’s completion.

ERA Singapore key executive officer Eugene Lim noted that the percentage of sub-sale transactions has remained above 10 per cent in the second half of 2023, as an estimated 16,000 units were completed in the first nine months of 2023.

It could be a case of property investors offloading their new units when faced with increased mortgage payments, higher property taxes and stiffer rental competition, said Mr Lim.

Most expensive resale condo in December 2023

In December, an estimated 743 units were resold, down 10.4 per cent from the 829 units resold in November, data showed.

Year on year, volumes were 7.1 per cent higher, but 11.7 per cent lower than the five-year average volumes for the month of December.

The most expensive condo resold in December was a freehold unit at Four Seasons Park off Orchard Road purchased by a Singapore permanent resident for $12.5 million, said Mr Lim.

In the city fringe, the most expensive resale unit was $8.4 million for a 99-year leasehold unit at Corals at Keppel Bay, and $4 million for a 99-year leasehold unit at The Trilinq in Clementi.