August New Home Sales Fall to 153 Units as Launches Dry Up During Ghost Month

New home sales in the seasonally slow Ghost Month period fell to 153 units in August, down 92.9 per cent from the 2,142 units moved in the same month a year earlier, data released by the Urban Redevelopment Authority showed on 15 September. The latest figure was also about 79 per cent lower than the 731 units sold in July.

Including executive condominiums, 171 units were sold in August with 116 units launched, versus 2,338 units sold and 2,496 units launched in the same month in 2025. In July, 758 units were sold and 889 units were launched.

The August tally brings developers’ sales to 5,038 units for the first eight months of 2026, some 34 per cent below the 7,669 units sold over the same period in 2025, noted Tricia Song, CBRE head of research for Singapore and South-east Asia. “The slower momentum this year has been a function of fewer launches and higher price points,” said Song.

Top 10 projects by sales in August, per URA and Huttons Data Analytics, with units sold and median price psf: Dunearn House, CCR, 18 units, S$3,008. Lentor Gardens Residences, OCR, 15, S$2,367. The Sen, RCR, 12, S$2,305. Union Square Residences, RCR, 10, S$2,762. Hudson Place Residences, RCR, 9, S$2,640. Arina East Residences, RCR, 8, S$2,718. Chuan Park, OCR, 6, S$2,708. Narra Residences, OCR, 6, S$2,129. Canberra Crescent Residences, OCR, 5, S$2,031. One Marina Gardens, RCR, 5, S$3,082.

Mark Yip, Huttons Asia chief executive, pointed to the lack of new launches during the lunar seventh month, saying that June had seen a similarly low 156 units when no new projects were launched.

This year, the lunar seventh month, when both developers and homebuyers stay on the sidelines due to superstitious reasons, fell between 13 August and 10 September, almost two weeks earlier than in 2025 when it ran from 23 August to 21 September.

Nicholas Mak, chief research officer at Mogul.sg, noted that the August data is the lowest monthly new home sales the market has seen in the past 30 months.

Wong Siew Ying, PropNex head of research and content, expects sales to pick up over the next month as new projects come on stream. These include Amberwood at Holland, the first project in the new Holland Plain precinct, and Lucerne Grand in Lakeside. Other projects in the pipeline include The Serra Residences in Novena and Thomson Reserve, a mega development on the former site of Thomson View condominium.

“We expect quantum play to remain an important consideration in developers’ pricing strategies for upcoming launches,” said Wong, pointing to URA caveat data showing that around 60.1 per cent of new private non-landed homes sold last month were priced below S$2.5 million, up from 58.5 per cent in July.

While demand for new homes has held up reasonably well amid geopolitical and trade uncertainties, she flagged employment conditions and the impact of higher energy prices on inflation and interest rates as factors that could weigh on buyer sentiment.

Mak was also cautious. While 12 residential projects comprising about 5,200 units could be launched in the coming months, he expects developers to release only about half of them before Christmas, as the market may not be able to absorb that level of supply. “On the positive side, the government will be taking in more new immigrants and minting more new Singapore citizens among the permanent residents in the next few years, which will raise both buying and leasing demand for residential properties,” he said.