PUBLISHED ONOctober 01, 2025 10:52 AMBYChing Shi JieThe Build-To-Order (BTO) exercise in October will divert demand away from the resale market, several property analysts said on Wednesday (Oct 1).
They added that prospective homeowners are likely to be attracted to the new housing precincts, which are part of the 9,100 flats offered in the final BTO launch of the year.
This comes after HDB resale flat prices rose 0.4 per cent in the third quarter of 2025, marking the fourth consecutive quarter of slowing price growth.
HDB flash estimates released on Oct 1 showed that the resale price index grew to 203.7 in the third quarter, up from 202.9 in previous quarter.
"This marks the fourth consecutive quarter of slowing resale price growth and the lowest quarter-on-quarter increase since Q2 2020," said HDB.
Resale flat prices have been rising for 22 straight quarters since the second quarter of 2020.
Christine Sun, chief researcher and strategist at Realion (OrangeTee Group & ETC) Group, noted that on a yearly basis, resale prices rose by 5.6 per cent.
She expects resale prices to either remain stable or experience a slight decline for the fourth quarter of 2025.
"Demand typically falls during the final quarter of the year, as market activity slows down during the year-end holidays," she told AsiaOne on Wednesday.
"Sales will also be affected by the increase in BTO supply, with over 9,000 new flats released in October."
The new flats will be in Ang Mo Kio, Bedok, Bishan, Bukit Merah, Jurong East, Sengkang, Toa Payoh and Yishun.
Eugene Lim, key executive officer at ERA Singapore, said that the upcoming BTO exercise offers prospective buyers the opportunity to be early movers into emerging housing precincts.
These include Toa Payoh’s first housing project in Mount Pleasant, and the new Berlayar Estate at the former Keppel Club site in Bukit Merah, which forms part of the Greater Southern Waterfront development.
”As a result, some buyers may hold off on immediate purchases in the resale market until the ballot results are released. A proportion of unsuccessful applicants are likely to return to the resale market in the months that follow,” Lim added.
In a media statement released on Wednesday, HDB said that a total of 7,157 resale units were sold in the third quarter of 2025 as at Monday, which is 10.9 per cent lower from the same period last year.
In the first nine months of 2025, a total of 20,849 resale flats changed hands, down 7.6 per cent from 22,562 units sold an year ago, said Nicholas Mak, chief research officer of Mogul.sg.
"These figures partly reflect the results of the Government’s effort to cool the HDB resale market with a steady supply of BTO flats, as well as the effects of a slowing economy," he added.
Mohan Sandrasegeran, head of research and data analytics of Singapore Realtors Inc, said that demand for larger flats in mature estates is likely to remain resilient due to limited stock.
“As the public housing ecosystem becomes increasingly responsive, these supply-side measures, together with policy flexibility, are reinforcing affordability and access.
“The overall resale price trajectory is expected to stabilise.”
The number of HDB flats sold for at least a million dollars climbed in the third quarter of 2025, said Realion Group’s Sun.
She noted that 480 of such units were sold compared to 415 in the second quarter of the year.
The most expensive transaction was a five-room resale flat at the Pinnacle@Duxton in Cantonment Road which went for $1.6 million.
According to ERA Singapore’s data, the third quarter of 2025 saw 11 resale flat transactions crossing the $1.5 million mark, of which 10 of them are under 15 years old.
"The growing number of million-dollar resale flats is emblematic of the inflation of property prices in the public and private housing market," said Mak.
"It also reflects the acceptance by home buyers that the prices of new and well-located flats on high floors typically cross the $900,000 price level.”
Meanwhile, the prices of private flats increased by 1.2 per cent in the third quarter of 2025.
This is more than one per cent hike in the second quarter of this year, according to data from the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) which was released on Wednesday.
The number of transactions surged by about 29 per cent in the third quarter, rising to 6,594 units from 5,128 units in the previous quarter.
URA said that the increase is in line with the increase in the number of private residential units launched for sale.
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chingshijie@asiaone.com
