If you're a young Singaporean thinking about buying your first home, or an upgrader weighing your options right now, I want you to know something: you're not overthinking it. The gap between what homes cost and what we earn has genuinely widened. Property prices have climbed 5.5% annually over the past six years, while household incomes have grown just 3 to 4.5%. That squeeze is real, and it's changing how the next generation approaches homeownership. But here's the thing, it's not that young buyers are giving up on property, they're just playing it smarter.
Let me walk you through what I'm seeing on the ground. In the first quarter of this year, private residential prices ticked up just 0.3% quarter-on-quarter. Non-landed homes, which most of you will be looking at, grew 1% q-o-q, but the real story is in the regional split. Outer Central Region and Rar Central Region properties outperformed the rest with 1% and 0.9% growth respectively, while City Centre Region lagged at 0.4%. That's not by accident.
Transaction volumes, however, tell a different tale. Private home sales dropped 39.7% quarter-on-quarter to just over 4,000 units. Before you panic, understand what's really happening here. The market isn't collapsing, it's recalibrating. Young buyers and upgraders are shifting their focus away from the resale market and toward new launches. In 2025 alone, over 11,000 new private units hit the market, up 72.7% year-on-year, and developers sold nearly 11,000 of them. That's not a soft market, that's a market in motion.
Here's what I think is driving this pivot. New launch projects offer something resale homes can't match right now: predictability and value. Developers are carefully calibrating supply to match demand, and it's working. Over half of Q1 launches achieved 90% or higher take-up rates. That's investor-grade confidence in a market that's supposed to be slowing down.
On the resale side, median prices for non-landed homes have held steady at around S$1,763 per square foot, barely moving from the prior quarter. The issue isn't that prices are falling dramatically, it's that they're not falling at all while new launches offer modern specifications, warranties, and often better financing terms. If I were a first-time buyer stretched on affordability, I'd rather lock in a new launch with a developer's track record than gamble on an older unit in a softening resale market.
HDB resale prices actually dipped 0.1% this quarter, marking the first quarterly decline in roughly seven years. But volumes jumped 17.6% quarter-on-quarter to over 6,000 units. What does that tell me? HDB upgraders are moving, and they're testing the market to find their entry point into private housing. That's a healthy correction, not a crash.
Let me be direct about the elephant in the room. If household incomes are growing at 3 to 4.5% annually and property prices at 5.5%, the math is straightforward: it's getting harder to afford homes on salary alone. Government land sales reflect this pressure. The average price per plot ratio for GLS land hit S$1,463 this February, up 5.5% annually from S$1,060 six years ago. Developers are passing these costs to you.
So what are young Singaporeans doing? They're leaning on family support, delaying gratification, and crucially, reconsidering where they live. Outer Central Region properties like Jurong, Clementi, and Bukit Timah are seeing stronger demand than City Centre locations. They're also stretching their timelines, viewing property as a long-term play rather than a quick flip. And some are simply waiting. With three-month SORA sitting at just over 1% annually, mortgages are manageable, but that can't be counted on forever.
The regional divergence is important. Record highs have been set in nine HDB towns, signaling pockets of strength where upgraders are willing to pay. This isn't uniform weakness. It's selective buying in locations that offer value or lifestyle fit.
If you're a first-time buyer right now, here's my honest take:
For investors, the picture is tighter. Strong new launch take-up rates suggest underlying demand is solid, but external volatility, whether from global uncertainties or shifts in how younger buyers fund down payments, remains a watch point. Stick to regions showing consistent regional growth like OCR and RCR, and understand that resale depth may be shallower than it was two years ago.
The bottom line is this: young Singaporeans aren't abandoning homeownership, they're just being smarter about it. They're buying where value is, timing around market rhythms, and leaning on support systems. If you're feeling priced out, you're not alone, and it's not because you're doing something wrong. It's a structural gap, but it's one you can navigate with the right strategy, the right location, and the right timing.
What's your situation right now? First-time buyer, upgrader, or investor? I'd love to understand what you're seeing in your own search. Drop me a message or give me a call.
25 years experience · 1,000+ transactions · 4,379 TOP units managed
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