New home sales slow amid launch lull and Hungry Ghost Month

New private home sales slowed in August 2026 as developers held back major launches during the Lunar seventh month.

Developers sold 153 new private homes, excluding executive condominiums (ECs), down 79.1% from 731 units in July. Sales were also 92.9% lower than the 2,142 units recorded in August 2025.

This was the lowest monthly sales volume since February 2024, when developers also sold 153 units. Including ECs, total developer sales fell from 758 units in July to 171 units in August.

According to Luqman Hakim, Chief Data & Analytics Officer at 99.co, the steep decline does not necessarily point to a sudden loss of buyer interest. Instead, it largely reflects how few new homes entered the market during the month. August also overlapped with the Hungry Ghost Month, which runs from 13 August to 10 September in 2026 and is traditionally a quieter period for major purchases.

Why did sales fall in August?

Only 116 private homes were released for sale in August, down from 889 units in July. All 116 came from a later sales phase at Union Square Residences in the Rest of Central Region (RCR). No units were released in the Core Central Region (CCR) or Outside Central Region (OCR), and there was no brand-new project launch during the month.

July, by comparison, benefited from several launches. Lentor Gardens Residences and Dunearn House alone sold 270 and 212 units respectively during the month, giving buyers far more new options across different parts of Singapore.

Luqman added that new launches tend to generate the strongest burst of transactions. As a result, monthly developer sales can vary considerably depending on when projects enter the market. 

Which market segment recorded the most sales?

Market segment	July sales	August sales	Month-on-month change	August’s top-selling project
CCR	235	24	-89.8%	Dunearn House (18 units)
RCR	162	72	-55.6%	The Sen (12 units)
OCR	334	57	-82.9%	Lentor Gardens Residences (15 units)
Total	731	153	-79.1%	Dunearn House (18 units)

Developers recorded 72 new home sales in the RCR in August, down 55.6% from 162 units in July. Of these, The Sen accounted for 12 transactions at a median price of S$2,305 psf, while Union Square Residences recorded 10 transactions at a median of S$2,762 psf.

Meanwhile, developers sold 57 new homes in the OCR, down 82.9% from 334 units in July. Lentor Gardens Residences accounted for 15 of the transactions, at a median price of S$2,367 psf. This followed the 270 units sold at the project in July, when it launched.

The CCR recorded 24 sales, down 89.8% from 235 units in the previous month. Dunearn House accounted for 18 of these transactions, or 75% of the CCR total, at a median price of S$3,008 psf.

Existing projects also saw fewer buyers

The lack of major launches explains much of August’s decline, but it was not the entire story. Sales also eased among projects that did not release units during the month.

Projects with a launch or new sales phase in July accounted for 523 of the month’s 731 transactions. The remaining projects sold 208 units.

In August, Union Square Residences sold 10 units after releasing its later batch. All other projects collectively sold 143 units, about 31% fewer than the 208 sales recorded by non-launch projects in July. The number of projects that registered at least one sale also slipped from 50 to 46. This means even after removing the boost from July’s launches, buying activity still moderated by roughly one-third.

Still, the 143 sales recorded across projects without an August launch show that some buyers remained active. Rather than relying solely on the excitement of a new launch, these transactions suggest that buyers were willing to consider existing stock when the unit, price and overall value suited their needs.  

Were buyers focusing more on lower-priced homes?

Price quantum remained an important consideration in August. Based on URA Realis caveats, 60.1% of new non-landed private homes sold during the month cost less than S$2.5 million, slightly higher than July’s 58.5% share.

Transacted price	July 2026	August 2026
Below S$1 million	0.1%	0.0%
S$1 million to below S$1.5 million	2.8%	5.4%
S$1.5 million to below S$2 million	26.8%	29.7%
S$2 million to below S$2.5 million	28.8%	25.0%
S$2.5 million to below S$3 million	19.4%	14.2%
S$3 million to below S$3.5 million	9.6%	10.8%
S$3.5 million to below S$4 million	6.5%	5.4%
S$4 million to below S$4.5 million	2.6%	2.7%
S$4.5 million to below S$5 million	1.2%	0.7%
S$5 million and above	2.1%	6.1%
Proportion below S$2.5 million	58.5%	60.1%

This trend was especially visible at Dunearn House. About 77.8% of its August sales were priced below S$2.5 million, compared with 42.6% in July, when the project launched. The median size of the units sold also fell from 872 sqft in July to 635 sqft in August.

In other words, the project’s August transactions leaned more heavily towards smaller units with a lower overall purchase price. 

Local buyers continued to dominate new home sales

Singaporeans made up 82.4% of new non-landed private home purchases in August, excluding ECs, while permanent residents accounted for another 16.9%.

Foreign buyers who were not permanent residents accounted for less than 1% of sales, with only one transaction recorded at River Modern. Based on lodged caveats, this was the lowest monthly number of foreign-buyer purchases since 1995.

However, August’s unusually low overall sales volume should be kept in mind when comparing buyer shares. With only 153 private homes sold during the month, even a small change in transaction numbers could shift the proportions more noticeably.

What happened in the EC market?

Developers sold 18 new EC units in August, down 33.3% from 27 units in July. Coastal Cabana was the segment’s top seller, accounting for 12 transactions at a median price of S$1,830 psf.

The quieter month reflected both the lack of a fresh EC launch and the limited stock still available. As at the end of August, launched EC projects had 157 unsold units remaining, according to URA figures.

Could new private home sales recover in September?

August brought estimated private new home sales for the first eight months of 2026 to 5,038 units, excluding ECs. Although monthly sales are likely to remain uneven, activity could pick up from the second half of September as developers restart their launch schedules.

Projects expected to enter the market include the 212-unit Amberwood at Holland, the first private development in the new Holland Plain precinct, and Lucerne Grand in Lakeside. More than 2,000 private homes, excluding ECs, may be launched over the rest of 2026, giving buyers a wider range of locations, price points and unit types to consider.

Nevertheless, a busier launch calendar does not guarantee that every project will see the same response. Buyers are likely to compare the total price, location, layout and overall value carefully, particularly as economic uncertainty remains in the background.

For now, August’s figures are best read as a quiet pause after July’s launch-led rebound. The market had fewer new homes to choose from, and sales at existing projects also eased. The next few launches will provide a clearer test of how much demand is waiting on the sidelines as the market heads into the final months of 2026.