[SINGAPORE] Prices of private residential property rose 0.9 per cent in the first quarter of 2026, figures released by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) showed on Friday (Apr 24). 

This was treble the 0.3 per cent flash estimate by the agency earlier this month, and accelerates from a 0.6 per cent increase in the previous quarter. 

It is also similar to the average quarterly increase of 0.8 per cent in 2025, URA said.

Private home price growth was led by non-landed properties, where prices rose 1.3 per cent in Q1, reversing from a 0.2 per cent decline in the previous quarter. 

By region, prices in the suburbs or Outside Central Region saw the biggest increase of 2.2 per cent. This was followed by the city fringe or Rest of Central Region with a 0.8 per cent growth, and the prime Core Central Region with 0.6 per cent. 

In landed properties, prices fell 0.4 per cent in the first quarter, swinging from a 3.4 per cent increase in the quarter before.

In the primary market, developers launched 1,844 private homes, excluding executive condos (ECs), for sale in Q1, some 30 per cent less than Q4’s 2,632 units. Sales volume consequently fell to 2,013 units in Q1 from 2,940 units in Q4. 

There were 3,225 resale transactions in Q1, compared with 3,529 units transacted in the prior quarter. These deals accounted for 59.6 per cent of all sales transactions in Q1, slightly more than the 52.7 per cent in Q4. 

Subsale volumes fell to 175 in the quarter from 230 previously. 

On the rental front, URA’s overall index was up 0.3 per cent in the first quarter, after a 0.5 per cent decrease in the prior quarter. The vacancy rate inched up to 6.2 per cent as at end-Q1, from 6 per cent in Q4. 

The slight growth increase in the rental index follows the completion of 1,271 private housing units in the first quarter. Some 360 units of these were ECs. 

In the remaining three quarters of 2026, 5,883 private homes, including ECs, are set to be ready, based on the expected completion dates reported by developers. This figure includes units with and without planning approval. 

A further 9,753 units are slated for completion in 2027, followed by 11,706 in 2028 and 11,013 in 2029. Beyond that, another 17,471 units are projected to come onstream.

Altogether, this brings the upcoming supply pipeline to 55,826 new private homes over the next few years. 

This version of article written by Ry-Anne Lim and first appeared at The Business Times.

Photo: Yen Meng Jiin, BT