As of the second quarter of 2021, Singapore has 73,263 finished landed residences, comprising detached, semi-detached, and terrace houses, accounting for 19.3 percent of the private housing stock and only 5.1 percent of overall housing stock. Landed houses have become a sought-after asset among residential property types due to its restricted availability and lasting appeal.
The landed sector, like the rest of the housing market, was impacted by the July 2018 cooling measures. Sellers’ high price expectations, which prospective purchasers couldn’t meet, also hindered sales. The landing sector deteriorated even more in 2019 as the US-China trade war damaged Singapore’s economy.
Due to the epidemic, individuals spent more time at home for work, study, and family leisure last year, making landed houses more attractive to purchasers with their bigger living areas. This led to a 38% increase in sales volume from 1,304 in 2019 to 1,805 in 2020.
This year’s robust sales trend continued, with 1,779 landed houses sold in the first seven months. The number of detached and semi-detached homes sold in January-July 2021 has already surpassed the amount for 2020. We can anticipate more than 2,000 landed houses to be sold by the end of the year, the most since 2012, indicating a resurgence for the sector.
The three kinds of landed properties have plotted a general rise based on prices per square foot (psf) of land area from 2018 to July 2021. Semi-detached homes had the highest increase of 10.5 percent in that time, rising to S$1,281 per square foot. Terrace home prices increased 9.7% to S$1,448 psf, while detached house prices increased 9.6% to S$1,427 psf.
The performance of the landed sector varies by district geographically. Districts 19, 15, 28, 16, 10, and 20 had the greatest sales volumes from 2018 to July 2021, according to transaction data. The 4,158 houses sold in these six areas accounted for 61% of the total 6,797 sales completed across the island. These are, unsurprisingly, the areas having the greatest concentration of landed houses.
Prices of landed houses in the top six districts increased at a solid compound annual growth rate (CAGR) from 2018 to July 2021, owing to strong sales. With a 3.1 percent CAGR, District 20 topped the pack.
District 16’s costs increased by a lesser 1%, owing to its position being the farthest from the city in comparison to the other districts.
The top six districts are also popular since they are established housing estates with well-known primary schools, malls, and leisure and lifestyle choices. The other four districts, with the exception of Districts 15 and 28, are serviced by several MRT lines, increasing their interconnectedness.
Because these areas are bordered by or inside HDB estates, there is a steady stream of households upgrading to landed houses in the same area. Some demand came from people who sold their apartments in the collective sales of 2017-2018.
From 2018 to July 2021, less than 100 landed house sales were recorded in Districts 8, 12, 9, 4, 25, and 18. This was due to the fact that there were only 2,623 landed houses in these six districts.
Only two terrace homes were sold in 2018 with a high median of S$2,176 psf, and another two were sold in January-July 2021 with a low median of S$1,158 psf, indicating a negative CAGR of 16.1% in prices in District 8.
The high CAGR of 4.5 percent in District 12 may be ascribed to the scarcity of landed houses for sale. The selling of high-end villas in Sentosa Cove helped District 4 achieve a 2.2 percent CAGR. Thomson upcoming new Semi Detached at Bright Hill Residences is also highly sought after.
Due to their distance from the city center, Districts 25 and 18 were less attractive to purchasers, but their median prices, which were below S$1,000 psf, indicate that there is potential for future development.
Nearly half of the 40 sales in District 9 were conservation homes in Emerald Hill and Cairnhill. Buyers paid a premium for these uncommon and valuable goods, resulting in a high CAGR of 8.9%.
