The strong sales followed near sell-out launches of new condominium projects in March. The 455-unit River Modern in River Valley moved 90 per cent of units at its launch weekend. Two projects in Tampines — Rivelle Tampines EC and Pinery Residences — also cleared more than 90 per cent of units when they opened for sales. These three projects contributed 76.9 per cent of total March sales, with 1,615 new units injected into the market.

Sales in the four months before March were much slower, with volumes in the low hundreds over the year-end lull and seasonal Chinese New Year pullback in February. Knight Frank research head Leonard Tay said the ongoing Middle East conflict, which started on 28 February, might have added a layer of uncertainty, but it did nothing to affect domestic demand for private non-landed homes because the public is still hungry for new products.

There was brisk activity in the prime Core Central Region (CCR) in March, with 472 units sold. Most of the month’s CCR sales — 88 per cent or 416 units — were from River Modern at a median price of S$3,220 per square foot, making it the bestselling non-landed CCR project to date, said Huttons Asia chief executive Mark Yip.

In a sign of EC pricing — and demand — reaching new benchmarks, the volume of ECs sold for at least S$2 million hit a high in March. Christine Sun, real estate company Realion’s chief researcher and strategist, noted that 275 units were sold for at least this price in March, surpassing the previous high of 150 units in March 2025.

By unit price, 411 ECs were sold for a premium price of S$1,900 per square foot and above in March 2026, of which 410 units were from Rivelle Tampines. Only 10 ECs have been sold at this price point historically. The EC median price of S$1,927 represented a new record, with Orangetee’s analysis showing this milestone pushed EC prices to parity with some mass-market private condominiums.

Among other prime CCR projects on the market, freehold Newport Residences sold 22 units at a median price of S$3,062 psf, and W Residences Marina View Singapore moved six units at a median price of S$2,636 psf in March. Altogether, 697 CCR homes were sold in the first quarter of 2026 — more than three times the 192 units in the year-ago period, representing the strongest first-quarter performance for the CCR since 2010.

With an onslaught of new launches and rising demand for fresh homes, Knight Frank’s Tay pointed to a growing gulf between new launch prices and resale values. In Q1, the median price of new sales in the CCR was around S$3,174 psf, 42.8 per cent higher than resales at S$2,223 psf. In the RCR, the median price of new private homes excluding ECs was S$2,686 psf, 37.7 per cent higher than resales at S$1,951 psf. The spread was highest in the OCR, with a median new sale price of S$2,502 psf and resales at S$1,554 psf.

This divergence is likely to persist or even widen as more price-sensitive buyers turn to the resale market, reinforcing a two-tiered price dynamic across Singapore’s private housing landscape, said Tay, noting fewer opportunities for the budget-conscious whose housing needs are more immediate.

Still, the March tally brought total first-quarter sales to a lower level than in Q1 of last year. Mogul.sg chief research officer Nicholas Mak said homebuyers picked up 2,012 new private homes in Q1 2026, a 31.6 per cent decline from the previous quarter and 40.4 per cent lower on year. ERA Singapore CEO Marcus Chu expects buying momentum to strengthen in the coming months, amid a healthy pipeline of new launches. SRI’s Sandrasegeran said April sales are likely to be held up by two projects — Vela Bay in Bayshore and Tengah Garden Residences. CBRE forecasts total 2026 new private home sales of 7,500 to 8,500 units with price growth of 2 to 4 per cent.