Analysts cited a lack of major launches, the school holidays and the lunar seventh month as reasons for the dip.
Monthly sales of new private homes in Singapore fell to their lowest since December 2022, according to data for September released by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) on Monday (Oct 16).
Excluding executive condominiums (ECs), the 217 units sold last month marked a drop of 44.9 per cent from the 394 units sold in August.
The figure was also 78 per cent less than the 987 units sold in the same month last year.
The last time there were fewer sales was in December last year, when 170 units were transacted.
Analysts said the second straight month of declining sales could be attributed to the absence of major launches during that period.
A total of 68 units were launched in September, a significant drop from 590 units in August and 2,156 units in July.
Edmund Tie’s head of research and consulting Lam Chern Woon said: “Developers have held back on launches on the back of a surge in new project launches in the past few months.”
OrangeTee and Tie senior vice president Christine Sun added that the housing market usually quietens during the lunar seventh month or Hungry Ghost festival, which ended in mid-September.
Singapore Realtors’ head of research and data analytics Mohan Sandrasegeran also pointed to the school holidays as a factor, while JLL’s head of residential research Chia Siew Chuin cited greater buyer prudence amid a slower economy and market cooling measures.
“Some homebuyers may also become increasingly selective, amid a multitude of options currently available in the market,” added Edmund Tie’s Mr Lam.