New condos cost 34% to 50% more psf than resale as September sales hit 296

Developers in Singapore sold 296 new private homes in September 2026, excluding executive condominiums (ECs), nearly double the 153 sold in August, data released by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) on 15 October showed, The Business Times reported 1. The rebound matters most to buyers weighing a new launch against a resale condo, because the gap between the two remains wide 3.

What changed in September

The headline figure is the URA count of private homes sold by developers, published monthly 14. The September total of 296 units was 143 more than in August and 16.1% more than the 255 units sold in September 2025 1. Including ECs, developers sold 319 units in September, against 171 in August and 270 a year earlier 1. That puts EC sales at 23 units in September and 18 in August 1.

Fresh supply was thin. Developers launched 158 units excluding ECs in September, up from 116 in August and 20 in September 2025 1. Amberwood at Holland was the only project launched during the month, according to Huttons, with 70 of its 212 units released in the first phase and 24 sold 1.

So most of September's sales came from projects already on the market. Mohan Sandrasegeran of SRI said the improvement was supported by transactions at previously launched projects 1. By the account of Christine Sun of Realion (OrangeTee & ETC Group), roughly two in three September deals were struck from 11 September onwards, once the lunar seventh month had ended 1.

By region, the Rest of Central Region (RCR) took 131 units, or 44.3% of the total, the Outside Central Region (OCR) 125 units, or 42.2%, and the Core Central Region (CCR) 40 units, or 13.5% 1. Mark Yip of Huttons Asia said developers also sold 19 landed homes in September, the highest monthly figure since April 2018 1.

Why one good month does not make a good quarter

September closed a weak quarter. Nicholas Mak of Mogul.sg said new private home sales fell 44.9% to 1,180 units in the third quarter, from 2,141 in the second 1. He called it the steepest third-quarter decline in 13 years, even after allowing for the Hungry Ghost Festival 1.

The official price picture is calmer. URA's flash estimate, released on 1 October, put the overall private residential price index up 1.4% in the third quarter of 2026, after a 0.5% rise in the second 2. Non-landed prices rose 0.9%: the CCR fell 0.1%, the RCR rose 0.2% and the OCR rose 2.2% 25. The OCR index stood at 277.1 in the flash estimate, against 271.1 in the second quarter 5. URA defines the CCR as postal districts 9, 10 and 11, the Downtown Core Planning Area and Sentosa; the RCR is the rest of the Central Region 5. URA said sale volumes fell by about 30% from the previous quarter 2. It also said the flash estimate is based on prices submitted for stamp duty and developers' sales up to mid-September, that past flash figures have differed from the final ones, and that readers should interpret them with caution 2.

Volume down sharply while prices still edge up suggests neither side has the upper hand yet: sellers have not been pushed to cut prices, and many buyers appear to be waiting rather than paying more. That reading can break in either direction. A run of well-priced launches can lift volume without lifting prices, while a slower job market could push the other way. Leonard Tay of Knight Frank Singapore now expects 6,500 to 7,500 new private home sales for the full year, below an earlier projection of 8,000 to 10,000 units 1.

Who is affected, and who is not

Buyers comparing a new launch with a resale condo. This is the group for whom September's data says the most, because URA's own transaction records show how far apart the two markets sit (see below).

HDB upgraders shopping in the OCR. The OCR took 42.2% of September's developer sales 1, and it is where the new-versus-resale gap is widest in percentage terms 3.

EC buyers. EC sales were small, at 23 units in September by subtraction from the two developer totals 1. Nothing in this release changes EC eligibility or prices.

Owners not buying or selling. A month of developer sales does not move the value of an existing home on its own. URA's price index is the better gauge, and its full third-quarter figures are due on 23 October 24.

What URA's own records show for September

The developer count is one source. URA's private residential transaction records, which list every caveated sale by contract month, give a second view that can be broken down by sale type 3. In those records a new sale is a unit bought from the developer, a sub sale is a unit resold before the project is completed, and a resale is a unit resold after completion. Quantum is the total price paid; psf is that price divided by the strata area URA records, converted to square feet.

For condominiums and apartments (ECs and landed homes left out), the records hold 268 new sales with contract dates in September 2026 3. That is close to, but below, the developers' count. Taking the 19 landed homes out of the 296 leaves 277 non-landed units, nine more than the records hold so far 13. URA updates new sale transactions weekly, so the September figure in the records may still rise 4. Treat September's record-based figures as provisional.

The records match the best sellers named by Huttons 1. Terra Hill in the RCR recorded 32 new sales at a median of $2,209 psf, The Sen 25 at $2,386 psf and Amberwood at Holland 24 at $3,020 psf, against Huttons' $3,021 psf 3. Across all new sales that month, the median new-sale quantum was $2.75m, up from $2.23m in August and $2.58m in September 2025 3. That fits what Marcus Chu of ERA Singapore described: units under $2.5m made up 38.8% of new non-landed sales in September, down from 60.3% in August 1. Median psf, by contrast, was $2,492 in September against $2,618 in August 3. Higher quantum on lower psf is consistent with the shift in mix that ERA described, rather than with developers raising prices across the board. A median moves with the mix of projects that sold that month, so neither figure is a price trend on its own.

How lumpy are new sales month to month?

New-sale volume in the records rises and falls with launches far more than resale volume does 3. Over the 12 months to September 2026, new sales of condominiums and apartments ranged from 153 in June to 2,403 in October 2025 3. Resales stayed between 834 and 1,154 a month over the 13 months shown below 3.

Source: URA Data Service, private residential transactions, condominiums and apartments, contract months September 2025 to September 2026 3.

Two readings follow. First, a single month of new sales says more about the launch calendar than about steady demand. Of the 8,105 new sales in the 12 months to September 2026, 5,187, or 64.0%, fell in just three months: October 2025, March 2026 and April 2026 3. Second, the resale median psf has barely moved, from $1,786 in September 2025 to $1,782 in September 2026 3. On these medians, resale prices moved little over the year.

The quarter tells the same story as the developers' count. The records hold 1,145 new sales for July to September 2026, against 2,115 for April to June, a fall of 45.9% 3. Nicholas Mak's figure from the developers' data was a 44.9% fall 1.

How wide is the gap between new and resale prices?

This is the comparison a buyer choosing between the two actually needs. For the third quarter of 2026 (contract months July to September), URA's records give these medians for condominiums and apartments by region 3:

Source: URA Data Service, private residential transactions 3; psf gap is the new-sale median psf divided by the resale median psf, minus one (Sightlines analysis).

Three points stand out.

The OCR has the widest psf gap, at 50.1% 3. A new OCR unit at the median cost $2,298,150, or $783,150 more than the median OCR resale unit at $1,515,000 3. For an upgrader, that is the price of a newer building, a longer lease ahead and, often, a later completion date.

The CCR gap is large on psf but small on quantum. The new-sale median psf is 43.3% above resale, yet the median new-sale quantum is only $213,745 higher 3. Since psf is price divided by area, that gap may reflect smaller new units in the mix, though medians alone cannot show unit sizes. Comparing psf alone would overstate how much more a CCR buyer pays for a new home.

The RCR has the narrowest psf gap, at 33.9%, but the median new RCR unit still cost $621,000 more than the median resale 3.

Part of the gap is what a new unit offers: a newer building and a longer lease ahead. The condition that would break this reading is the mix. These are medians across every project that sold, so a quarter dominated by one expensive launch, or by older resale stock, can stretch or squeeze the gap without any change in what a like-for-like unit costs.

What a buyer can take from this

The reusable rule is to compare on quantum first, then on psf, and to do it within one region. A psf gap tells you what each square foot costs; the quantum gap tells you what you will actually borrow and pay. In the CCR in the third quarter, the two told very different stories 3.

The counter-case is time. A household planning to stay for a long time may weigh the newer building and longer lease more heavily. One planning to move within a few years depends more on how the next buyer views the premium.

What to watch next

• 23 October 2026. URA releases its full third-quarter statistics, which will update the flash estimate 24.
• October sales. Christine Sun of Realion said that as at 15 October, October's new sales had already reached 380, more than September's 296 1.
• Fourth-quarter launches. Among the projects due before the year ends are Thomson Reserve, with 1,268 units, and The Serra Residences, The Business Times reported 1. Large launches tend to produce the spikes in the monthly table above 3, so a strong October or November may say more about launch timing than about a turn in demand.

Data note: URA Data Service, private residential transactions (condominiums and apartments; landed homes, ECs and bulk purchases left out), contract months September 2025 to September 2026, queried 15 October 2026. Figures for September 2026 are provisional. Developers' sales figures are from URA as reported by The Business Times 1.