New Citizens and PRs Drive Singapore Luxury Home Sales to Four-Year High

According to Realion (OrangeTee and ETC) Research, luxury home transactions in the prime Core Central Region continued to gather pace in H1 2026, with 353 landed and non-landed homes priced at S$5 million or more being sold. This was up 24.7 per cent from 283 transactions in the same period last year and 54.8 per cent higher than the 228 recorded in H1 2024. The tally excludes bulk transactions involving more than one unit.

Knight Frank Singapore reported that H1 2026 sales of large prime non-landed homes totalled 128 with a combined value of S$1.1 billion. While this was eight transactions fewer than H2 2025, the average unit price increased 8.3 per cent to S$2,689 per square foot. The firm analysed sales of apartments of at least 2,500 sq ft in Districts 1, 2, 4, 9, 10 and 11.

This luxury strength contrasts with the broader market, where overall private home sales excluding ECs declined 12 per cent in H1 2026 to 10,909 units from 12,328 in H1 2025. Government flash estimates show CCR condominiums gained 2 per cent in Q2 2026, even as prices dropped 1.4 per cent in the Rest of Central Region and slipped 0.2 per cent in the Outside Central Region.

Nicholas Keong of Knight Frank noted that “Singapore’s safe-haven status promoted certainty among those granted citizenship and permanent residences, as some upgraded from tenancies to home ownership.” Agents are also seeing more enquiries from Singapore citizens and PRs overseas seeking to acquire properties here to preserve capital.

The shift comes as foreign buyer participation has fallen to historic lows. According to Huttons Asia research, foreigners accounted for an average of 17 per cent of new home purchases between 2015 and 2022. This dived to 10.7 per cent in 2024 after the government raised additional buyer stamp duty on foreigners’ purchases to 60 per cent in April 2023, and fell further to 4.7 per cent in 2026 to date.

Despite the withdrawal of foreign buying, new CCR condo sales jumped five times to 1,916 in 2025 from 378 units in 2024. Lee Sze Teck, Huttons Asia senior director of data analytics, said: “This suggests that the CCR market may be undergoing a structural shift, with local buyers increasingly filling the gap left by foreign purchasers.”

The median price gap between CCR and RCR homes has shrunk to just 10.1 per cent in 2025, nearly halving from 21.5 per cent in 2024, making the prime segment essentially “a more accessible upgrade option for Singaporean buyers.”

Sales of new luxury homes priced at S$5 million and above rose 78 per cent to 73 units in H1 2026 from 41 in the same period last year. The resale market grew at a slower pace, with transactions up 15.9 per cent to 277 units from 239.

Among condos with sales crossing S$5 million, the new District 9 launch River Modern chalked up the highest sales with 44 units sold in that price range in H1. Buyers also picked up units at The Draycott (11 units sold between S$5.4 million and S$7.1 million), Goodwood Residence (eight units between S$5.1 million and S$8.8 million) and Leedon Residence (nine units between S$5.9 million and S$16.3 million).

In the ultra-luxury segment of condos priced at S$10 million and higher, sales jumped to a 15-quarter high in Q2 2026, according to Realion data. A total of 23 units changed hands, exceeding the 16 in Q1 2026 and 14 in Q2 2025. Of these, six were new sales and 17 were resales.

New sales included two units each at 21 Anderson and Skywaters Residences, and one each at 32 Gilstead and Park Nova. The top prime non-landed deal was a 6,232 sq ft unit at The Marq on Paterson Hill, which went for S$37 million or S$5,937 psf in January. Other big-ticket deals included a unit at Seven Palms Sentosa Cove at S$23.9 million and a unit at Nassim Park Residences at S$23 million.