Singapore Condo Prices Just Had Their Slowest First Half Since 2020 — Here’s What It Means For Buyers

With more than half of the year behind us, there are growing signs to indicate that the private residential property market appears to be moving into a period of greater stability.

This will probably come as a relief to many buyers who have faced a persistent trend of price increases from late 2024 and throughout most of 2025; buoyed by one blockbuster launch after another, each one seemingly setting higher price benchmarks.

But the latest housing statistics by URA indicate that market activity is slowing down, giving buyers some much needed breathing space. The property statistics for 2Q2026 tell us that price growth for the first half of this year was the weakest half-yearly performance since 2020, despite the strong showing in the new launch market so far this year.

Nonetheless, there are nuances, such as a bounceback in the price trajectory in the CCR, and the consequences of more Government Land Sales (GLS) sites being awarded. Here’s a look at the performance of the private housing market in the second quarter of 2026.

URA Figures for Q2 2026 

Overall, the private residential property market continued to post price gains in 2Q2026, but at a slower pace compared to the first three months of this year. The overall private residential Property Price Index (PPI) rose only 0.5% q-o-q, as opposed to the 0.9% quarterly increase in 1Q2026.

This brings the overall price growth in the private residential market to just 1.4% for the first half of this year, which is the slowest half-year increase in price growth since the Covid-19 pandemic struck Singapore in 2020.

An important caveat is that the overall price increase in the private residential market was largely driven by landed home transactions, where prices rebounded 2.5% in 2Q2026 after reporting a relatively soft performance in the previous quarter.

In contrast, non-landed private home prices – which account for the majority of private housing transactions – actually edged down by 0.1% q-o-q. “From the perspective of many homebuyers, this may be seen as a flat quarter in view of the softer non-landed home prices,” says Kelvin Fong, CEO of PropNex.

A reason for the dip in price growth could be attributed to seasonal disruptions. Landed home prices moderated in the first three months of this year, which ties in with holidays and festivities such as the Chinese New Year period and the March school holidays.

Subsequently, when market activity resumed after the lull in the second quarter, most of the landed properties that changed hands fetched relatively higher prices, ranging from $5 million to $7.5 million. In comparison, most of the landed home deals which closed in 1Q2026 transacted for $2.5 million to $5 million, which contributed to the sharper rebound in price growth.

That said, landed home transactions are relatively small compared to the entire private residential market. Given the low transaction volume, outliers can have a disproportionate impact on the price index. As such, we would caution interpreting the shift towards one higher price band as reflective of a wider trend in the landed property segment.

While price growth slowed for non-landed private homes, transaction volumes remained healthy.

Total private home sales still climbed by 13.6% q-o-q to hit a sales volume of 6,148 units transacted last quarter. The notable difference is that the increase in transaction volume was driven by an 18.2% rebound in resale transactions, while sub-sales also increased by 10.9%.

Meanwhile, developers sold 2,013 new private homes in 1Q2026 versus 3,225 resale private homes transacted in the secondary market during that period. But in 2Q2026, developers sold a slightly higher number of 2,141 new private homes, but the stronger growth came from the resale market where transactions rose to 3,813 units sold.

“Following the bumper crop of new launches that propelled private property price growth in the latter quarters of 2025, we have witnessed a moderation in prices in 2Q2026 and 1H 2026 overall. This can be attributed to a lower volume of launches in the first half of this year amid seasonal factors,” says Marcus Chu, CEO of ERA Singapore.

The slowdown in the volume of private home sales is largely attributed to there being only three new condo launches during the quarter, namely Tengah Garden Residences, Vela Bay, and Hudson Place Residences.

Each of these three new projects saw strong take-up rates when they hit the market at 99%, 72% and 61%, respectively. 

This also partially explains the uptick in resale volumes. Some buyers who were unable to secure units – and also unable to find other new launch alternatives – could have turned to the resale market.

“In 2Q2026, the secondary market benefitted from the limited number of new launches. However, several compelling new launches are expected for the third quarter, which could result in a less active secondary market.,” says Chu, adding: “Resale and sub-sale volumes may remain subdued in the next quarter, but prices are expected to remain stable, bolstered by resilient buyers’ demand”.

Regional differences marked the property market last quarter

Among the three regions key regions in the private residential market – namely the Core Central Region (CCR), Rest of Central Region (RCR), and Outside Central Region (OCR) – only the city-centre, or CCR, registered an uptick in price at 1.8% last quarter. On the other hand, prices fell by 1.1% in the RCR and 0.3 % in the OCR.

Leonard Tay, Head of Research at Knight Frank Singapore, says that the latest figures point towards a more balanced market overall, after the stronger gains seen over the past two years.“Going forward, this more sustainable and balanced phase of price growth that has been observed from 2024 onwards will likely continue,” he says.

He points out that the CCR continued to see resilient demand for premium homes, while the latest launches in the RCR and OCR were priced more in line with prevailing market expectations.

Meanwhile, Christine Sun, Chief Researcher and Strategist at Realion Group, noted that the latest property statistics are the latest continuation of a broader moderation trend that has been underway since 2022.

“Prices increased by 1.4% in the first half of 2026, representing the weakest half-year growth since 2020. The pace of bi-annual price growth has steadily moderated since 1H 2022, indicating that the market is stabilising, with prices rising but at a more sustainable pace,” she says.

Gearing up for a busier round of market activity in 2H2026

The second half of the year is expected to be considerably busier. The 2H2026 GLS Confirmed List could add another 4,745 new private homes to the mix, bringing the total for the year to 9,320 units. This is more than 50% higher than the 10-year annual average.

Most analysts expect the dominant buyer demographic to be genuine owner-occupiers going forward, with less in the way of investment or speculation driven buying.

“Buyers will continue to gravitate towards well-located projects that offer connectivity and future growth potential in various neighbourhoods, as benign mortgage rates (more favourable than a year ago) support sustained demand from HDB upgraders and genuine owner-occupiers,” says Tay of Knight Frank.

He adds that, at the same time, the pricing gap between new launches and resale homes persists, creating a two-tier market where new projects command a premium and homes that have been completed for some time provide more affordable options for both upgraders and downgraders.

There’s a much larger pipeline of launch-ready new projects yet to come onto the market, and buyers will likely have more choices than they did in the first six months of this year.

This is good news for buyers on two fronts. While prices aren’t dropping (they rarely ever do), the pace of price increases has slowed. This will be a relief for buyers who waited on the sidelines during the first half of 2026, as well as HDB upgraders saving up to afford a new condo.

The second piece of good news is that a range of new launch condos will enter the market in the second half of this year, and we think most preview after the end of the Hungry Ghost Festival, which lasts from Aug 13 to Sept 11 this year.

If you haven’t been able to secure a new home since the start of this year, there’s still plenty of opportunities left before the end of the year.