Buyers and property investors are becoming increasingly wary of the influx of new properties into the market, rising interest rates, the unchanged Additional Buyers’ Stamp Duty (ABSD) and the Total Debt Ratio Framework (TDSR). Resale private non-landed home sales figures indicated a 1.6 per cent drop in January.
Although buyers are still buying properties, demand and selling prices may not be as high as before. Smaller units seem to be more popular as the total quantum prices of these compact apartments are usually more palatable.
According to the SRPI (Singapore Residential Price Index) compiled by the National University of Singapore 
(NUS), prices of non-landed private homes in the central area were hit the hardest with a 1.9 per cent decline. However, this could mean that the price gap between homes in the central and suburban areas are closing, the rate of decline for the former may be less steep.
Despite the popularity of smaller units with buyers of late, shoebox apartment sales fell 0.6 per cent in February. Developers are also aware of buyers’ preferences for a new unit over a resale one especially with buyers who are intending to purchase a private property for own-occupation purposes.
Moving ahead, property analysts are expecting resale non-landed private property prices to drop by 5 to 7 per cent this year.
