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On Sunday, Feb 16, EdgeProp Singapore’s Property Market Outlook event saw discussions around the potential for new property cooling measures, the incoming supply of housing from government land sales (GLS) sites and Build-To-Order (BTO) launches, as well as Budget 2025 announcements that could impact the real estate market. A panel featuring experts Alan Cheong from Savills Singapore, Wong Xian Yang from Cushman & Wakefield, and Song Seng Wun from CGS International, discussed these topics, moderated by EdgeProp Singapore CEO Bernard Tong. The event took place at the Elta sales gallery, a new 501-unit project jointly developed by MCL Land and CSC Land Group, which opened for public preview on Feb 7.
In January, the government stated that they were open to implementing new property cooling measures, and that now was not the time to roll back on existing measures. Sales of new private residential units (excluding executive condos) rose 256% y-o-y in January, with the possibility of future cooling measures suggesting that the government may roll out measures that apply uniformly across the residential market, the panel said. There were also discussions about how these measures might concentrate on the HDB resale market. According to Wong, the HDB market forms the “floor” of the Singapore housing market, and a rise in prices there may have an effect on the prices of private housing. Cheong added that the potential for tougher loan restrictions and adjustments to the seller’s stamp duty (SSD) were also up for consideration.
However, Tong highlighted that more GLS and BTO units would be released into the market to meet demand, with the 1H2025 GLS programme offering 10 land parcels that can yield up to 5,000 new homes. In addition, HDB will offer 19,600 BTO units in 2025. Under the new classification, Prime and Plus BTO flats will take approximately 14 years to enter the resale market, therefore the impact on prices would only be seen much later, according to Cheong. In addition, Wong pointed out that prices for the resale market are more likely to follow project completions and the minimum occupation period (MOP) for HDB estates instead of the pipeline of GLS sites for tender every year. He added that “project completions, rather than GLS supply, are more likely to affect prices.”
However, the experts noted that the success of recent new launches suggests that there is still buyer confidence in new projects being launched this year. In particular, the Elta project experienced about 4,500 visitors over the first three days of public preview. Other projects that have been launched this year include The Orie and Bagnall Haus, which achieved a 86% and 63% selling rate respectively.
Song notes that prospective buyers of new projects are still positive about being able to make a profit when they eventually sell their properties. This is due to a stronger job market and increasing confidence from higher-paying jobs, encouraging property owners to upgrade, he said.
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The panel also discussed Budget 2025 and any measures that could have an impact on the property market this year. SGX noted that Singapore has made a strong economic recovery, since the recession caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. As 2025 is an election year, Song expects that there will be more handouts funded by government surpluses from healthy revenue collections in the past three years. The panellists also took questions from the audience, with some participants asking if the residential property market is currently in an “euphoric” phase.
Cheong said that the sense of exuberance is likely to subside as developers strategically time the launch of new projects. He added that there are numerous projects ready for launch, which are situated in areas where there have not been any launches over the past few years. He added that “If a particular location hasn’t seen a new launch in five or six years, demand is likely to build up during that time.”
Some investors queried the panelists’ thoughts on the rental market in 2021, which slowed down from its peak two years ago. Cheong said that while data shows a decline in the total number of expatriates in Singapore over the past year, there has been an increase in the volume of rental transactions. He added that the drop in rents may have encouraged some tenants to stop flat-sharing and get their own accommodation, but this was offset by layoffs in the finance and tech sectors, which may moderate rental growth this year. During the event, EdgeProp’s Tong presented the Master Plan Master Class on Clementi and Jurong East, highlighting upcoming transformation plans in these areas. He noted that the completion of the second phase of the Cross Island Line (CRL) will add another West Coast MRT station and turn the existing Clementi station into an interchange. Tong said that historically, MRT interchanges tend to have a positive effect on property prices near them.
Clementi’s transformation plans include redevelopment of the Clementi Stadium and the installation of more than 6.6km of cycling paths throughout the area. Tong said that the housing demand in Clementi will also benefit from the progressive development of the Jurong Lake District and the new jobs being created in the nearby Tuas Biomedical Park, Tuas Megaport, Jurong Island, and Jurong Innovation District. Data from EdgeProp Singapore shows that the average age of existing condos in Clementi is around 17 years, with recent project launches in the area seeing very strong capital gains. This includes projects such as Clavon, with prices rising 24% since launch, and The Clement Canopy, where prices have risen 43% since launch. Both of these projects are located next to the Elta project.
The data comes from EdgeProp Singapore’s suite of property tools, which can help owners, buyers and sellers to understand price and market trends. This includes HDB resale prices, analysis of profitable transactions, and information about upcoming GLS sites.