New property rules to have limited impact on market, analysts say

In introducing the tighter rules, the ministry said that there has been a significant increase in the sub-sale of units that were not yet completed. Market analysts said that the proportion of sub-sales in the market has been increasing steadily since the COVID-19 pandemic.

Using data from the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA), senior director of data analytics at Huttons Asia Lee Sze Teck showed that the proportion of sub-sales across all private residential properties increased from a low of 0.9 per cent in 2020 to a peak of 6.8 per cent in 2023. The proportion has since tapered down to 4.4 per cent in the first quarter of this year and 4.5 per cent in Q2 2025.

ERA Singapore CEO Marcus Chu noted that since 2021, there had been a \"significant jump\" in sellers who sold their homes after holding them for between three and four years. Focusing on non-landed private homes, Mr. Chu said that URA caveats show that in 2020, only 358 sellers sold their homes after holding them for three to four years. Last year, this number surged to a peak of 2,104 sellers.

Mr. Chu said non-landed private homes in the Outside Central Region saw the highest volume of homeowners selling within three to four years, followed by the Rest of Central region and Core Central Region. Despite the increase, Mr. Chu said that the majority of homeowners continue to sell their properties after holding them for five years or more.

Accounting for the increase, executive director for research and consultancy at Savills Singapore Alan Cheong said that private residential prices remained pretty flat until just after the pandemic, when relaunches came and prices \"gapped up\". \"Naturally, those who bought into the 2018, 2019 period would have a windfall gain. And because of their profit, they will naturally flip,\" said Mr. Cheong, adding that these were mostly Singaporean buyers who were waiting for their properties to reach completion.

\"And just before completion, another new project gets launched, and this time around, the prices gapped up in the market,\" Mr. Cheong said. \"And those who bought ... fortunately or fortuitously for them, they see that massive gap up, and they are holding on to a windfall profit. They will flip.\"

According to the source: CNA.