Private home sales in Singapore maintained their impressive performance in February, driven by the launch of new projects. According to data released by the Urban Redevelopment Authority on March 17, developers sold 1,575 units (excluding Executive Condos) last month, marking a significant 45.4% increase from the 1,083 homes sold in January.Despite the challenges of the past year, February’s figure is over 10 times higher than the 153 units sold in the same month in 2024, and is the highest February sales figure recorded in 13 years, since 2,417 units were sold in February 2012, reveals Tricia Song, CBRE’s head of research for Singapore and Southeast Asia. When including ECs, a total of 1,604 units were sold in February, reflecting a 45.3% increase from January.Developers have now sold a total of 2,658 units (excluding ECs) since the beginning of the year. In comparison, it took them eight months to achieve a similar figure last year, highlights Leonard Tay, head of research at Knight Frank Singapore.Read also: Strong start to 2025 with developers selling 1,083 new homes in JanuaryAdvertisementAdvertisementThis impressive performance in February was largely attributed to two major project launches in the Outside Central Region (OCR): ParkTown Residence, a 1,193-unit development in Tampines North, and Elta, a 501-unit development on Clementi Avenue 1. ParkTown Residence sold 1,041 units last month at a median price of $2,363 psf, making it the top-selling project for the month. This translates to an 87% take-up rate at the integrated project, which is co-developed by UOL Group and CapitaLand Development.Elta was the second best-performing project, with 65.1% or 326 units sold by developers MCL Land and CSC Land Group at a median price of $2,538 psf. CBRE’s Song points out that both ParkTown Residence and Elta are located in suburban neighborhoods that have not seen new supply in at least the past five years, contributing to the projects’ strong performances.In addition to these two projects, developers launched a total of 1,694 units for sale in February, up significantly by 89% from the 896 units launched the previous month. Additionally, sales in the OCR accounted for a staggering 92% of total new private homes sold in February, totaling 1,452 units. This reflects the highest monthly showing for the OCR in over nine years, since 1,523 units were sold in July 2015, reports Wong Siew Ying, PropNex Realty’s head of research and content.Sales in the Rest of Central Region (RCR) made up 98 or 6.2% of units sold in February. The top-selling RCR project was existing launch Pinetree Hill, which moved 22 units at a median price of $2,613 psf. In the Core Central Region (CCR), only 25 units were sold, accounting for 1.6% of developers’ sales last month. The best-selling CCR project was 19 Nassim, which sold five units at a median price of $3,372 psf. Four units were also sold at One Bernam at a median price of $2,651 psf. The 351-unit One Bernam, which launched for sale in May 2021, is now fully sold.Read also: Year-end lull drags December developers’ sales down to 203 unitsAdvertisementIn terms of buyer profile, Singapore citizens made up the majority of new private home buyers at 92.4%, followed by permanent residents at 6.9%, observes Lee Sze Teck, senior director of data analytics at Huttons Asia. Foreigners accounted for 11 new home purchases, including the two most expensive transactions in February – the sale of two units at 32 Gilstead for $14.47 million and $14.61 million.A record number of suburban homes sold for over $2 millionA total of 603 new private homes (including ECs) in the OCR were sold for at least $2 million in February, notes Christine Sun, chief researcher and strategist at OrangeTee Group. This makes it the highest number of new suburban homes sold at this price range in a single month since URA data first became available in 1995. “The previous record was in November 2024, with 512 new homes in the OCR sold for at least $2 million,” she adds.Of the 603 OCR homes that transacted for at least $2 million, 596 are non-landed homes, comprising largely of units from ParkTown Residence (397 units), Elta (145 units) and Hillock Green (16 units).PropNex’s Wong observes that the average unit prices of recent launches have “decoupled from the sub-market where these projects are located”. The way she sees it, while property prices generally follow a pecking order led by the CCR, followed by the RCR and then the OCR, recent launches indicate that this may no longer always be the case.As an example, Wong points out that The Collective at One Sophia, a CCR project which launched last November, has sold 73 units at an average unit price of $2,743 psf, based on URA data up until the end of February. “This is lower than the average transacted price of units sold at Union Square Residences ($3,175 psf) in the RCR, and only slightly higher than that of The Orie ($2,734 psf), also in the RCR,” she continues.Number of units sold and average psf price at selected new launches from November 2024 till February 2025Read also: Fresh launches supercharge November new private home sales to 2,557 units, up 246% m-o-mAdvertisementMeanwhile, recent OCR launches such as Chuan Park, Elta and Bagnall Haus have registered average unit prices of $2,589 psf, $2,544 psf and $2,489 psf, respectively, surpassing RCR project Nava Grove, which logged an average unit price of $2,460 psf.Wong believes the narrowing price gaps between regions could be due to various factors, including site-specific attributes of projects, amenity-driven pricing, demand by HDB upgraders, and the location of certain projects on the cusp of the CCR.Wong predicts that prices could further converge in the coming months as new RCR projects located just off the CCR come to market, such as One Marina Gardens in Marina South and future developments on Zion Road residential sites.Sustained momentumThe strong momentum in developers’ sales is expected to continue in March, supported by recent launches such as the 477-unit Lentor Central Residences, 188-unit Aurea, and 760-unit Aurelle of Tampines EC. “As of mid-March, these projects have collectively sold over 1,150 units, promising a strong closing to the quarter,” comments Marchus Chu, CEO of ERA Singapore. In light of the robust first-quarter sales, ERA has revised its new private home sales projection for the whole of 2025 to between 8,500 and 9,000 units, up from its previous range of 7,000 to 8,000.Huttons’ Lee estimates that developers have sold more than 3,200 units (excluding ECs) in the first quarter of the year. If this projection holds, it would mark the highest first-quarter sales since 2021, he adds.Looking ahead to the second quarter, new launches lined up potentially include the 358-unit Bloomsbury Residences, 937-unit One Marina Gardens, 638-unit W Residences Singapore – Marina View, and 107-unit Arina East Residences. However, despite the strong momentum established at the start of the year, not all projects launched in the coming months may perform equally well, notes Knight Frank’s Tay. “Homebuyer demand will largely be dependent on the specific location and property attributes of each specific new project launch, with some projects doing better than others,” he says.