Private home prices accelerate with 1.4% rise while HDB resale values dip further in Q3: flash data - The Business Times

Transaction volume of private homes shrinks 30% in quarter, while HDB volume grows 17.7%

[SINGAPORE] Private residential prices rose 1.4 per cent in the third quarter of 2026, even as resale public housing values inched down a further 0.2 per cent, government flash estimates released on Thursday (Oct 1) showed.

The rise in the private residential property price index accelerated in Q3 from the slight 0.5 per cent gain in the second quarter, led once again by a faster increase in landed homes. 

Prices in the landed segment rose 2.8 per cent, picking up from a 2.5 per cent growth in the prior quarter. 

Knight Frank research head Leonard Tay noted that landed prices have risen 4.9 per cent in the year thus far, with the latest flash estimate pointing to another potential record high for the index. 

Although transaction volume remained stable – ranging between 500 and 600 units in each quarter this year – Tay said that prices continue to climb as “aspirational homebuyers” look to upgrade from the non-landed market.  

For non-landed residences, the suburban market in the Outside Central Region (OCR) registered the biggest rise of 2.2 per cent, swinging from a 0.1 per cent dip previously. 

Prices in the city fringe Rest of Central Region (RCR) edged up 0.2 per cent, reversing from a 1.2 per cent decline in Q2; while that of the Core Central Region (CCR) inched down 0.1 per cent, turning from a 1.8 per cent gain in the preceding three months.

This puts overall price growth in the first nine months of 2026 at 2.8 per cent, marginally higher than the 2.7 per cent increase recorded in the same period last year, noted Mohan Sandrasegeran, SRI head of research and data analytics. 

The sales volume of private homes fell 30 per cent in Q3, with 4,296 transactions recorded as at mid-September, from 6,148 in the previous quarter. For the year to date, transaction volume dropped nearly 20 per cent to 15,857, from 19,793 in the same period last year.

Analysts attributed the drop in overall sales to a dearth of new launches in the quarter, as developers held back on marketing new projects during the month-long Hungry Ghost Festival. 

Government data indicated that 1,068 new private homes were transacted in Q3 as at Sep 20. This potential makes it the lowest quarterly sales tally so far this year, said PropNex chief executive Kelvin Fong. 

In the secondary market, caveats data showed around 3,109 private home transactions in the quarter, down from 3,813 units in Q2. 

Still, Fong pointed out that a larger proportion of new homes sold in Q3 fetched higher prices. PropNex data showed that the share of new non-landed homes, excluding executive condominiums, which sold for more than S$2.5 million rose from 30.6 per cent to 44.6 per cent of transactions in the quarter.

This trend was evident across all regions, he said. “Even so, the bulk of the transactions remains in the middle bands, (with) about 52 per cent of new homes sold in Q3... priced between S$1.5 million and... S$2.5 million.” 

The median price of a new non-landed private home also rose 9.6 per cent to S$2,567 per square feet (psf) in Q3. By contrast, resale prices fell 1 per cent to S$1,772 psf. 

“With few new projects competing for buyers and a tight unsold inventory, several ongoing projects were sold at modestly higher prices in Q3 than in Q2,” said Fong. This helped drive the increase in non-landed private home prices in the quarter. 

In the public housing market, data from the Housing & Development Board (HDB) showed a further easing of prices, with a 0.2 per cent decrease in Q3. 

This marks the third consecutive quarter of resale prices falling, after a 0.3 per cent dip in Q2 and a 0.1 per cent decline in the first quarter. 

Despite the dip in resale prices, Nicholas Mak, Mogul.sg chief research officer, noted that the top end of the HDB market had been “growing from strength to strength”. 

Million-dollar transactions rose 17.1 per cent quarter on quarter to around 575 units in Q3, he said. At the same time, the number of HDB resale flats sold for more than S$1.5 million increased 60 per cent to 24 units.

Meanwhile, overall transaction volumes of resale flats rose 17.7 per cent to 7,528 units as at Sep 29, from 6,396 units in the previous quarter. Year on year, this was a 5.2 per cent increase from the 7,157 units recorded in the same period last year.

HDB said that it has not observed a significant increase in prices and sales volumes in flats purchased by existing and former private residential property owners since the 15-month wait-out period was lifted on Jul 28. 

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