Owners blinked first — and that’s what finally got deals moving. After a 2025 that produced just two residential en bloc completions — one of the quietest years I’ve covered in 15 years — the collective sales market pushed past S$1 billion in the first four months of 2026. Tan Boon Liat at roughly S$950 million and Loyang Valley at about S$880 million did most of that heavy lifting. Both came after reserve prices were trimmed.
Two en bloc deals in all of 2025. Then S$1 billion in four months — once owners trimmed their reserves.
Now Serenity Park and Pek Chuan Building are back, and the discounts are hard to miss. Serenity Park cut its reserve from S$505 million to S$440 million — a 13% reduction that works out to around S$1,266 psf per plot ratio. Pek Chuan Building is being marketed at about S$1,114 psf. Tan Boon Liat took a similar 13% haircut before eventually selling below its revised guide, which tells you where the real clearing level sits.
Here’s the part that runs against the usual story. We keep blaming the 40% ABSD — 35% remittable, 5% not — for killing developer appetite. But the tax isn’t really the obstacle. The five-year build-and-sell condition is. Developers who miss it face clawback with interest, so they’re not avoiding land; they’re avoiding *size*. That’s why boutique freehold sites like Serenity Park, with quick sell-out potential, draw more genuine interest than headline mega-plots. Pek Chuan Building has a different advantage entirely — as a commercial site, it sidesteps the residential ABSD regime, which widens its buyer pool to include hospitality and mixed-use players.
So what does this mean for you? If you own a unit in an ageing freehold development, the premium you were dreaming of in 2021 isn’t coming back soon. Even at the trimmed reserve, Serenity Park’s 179 owners would still walk away with gross proceeds of about S$2.2 million to nearly S$2.7 million each — a premium of 30 to 35% over current market values. Realistic reserves get deals done; ambitious ones get relaunches. And if you’re buying new launches, land bought at today’s reduced rates should eventually translate into slightly gentler pricing — though don’t expect developers to hand back their entire margin.
Watch the private treaty negotiations. With High Point and Balestier Regency still open for tender, some advisers project the full-year collective-sale total could approach S$2.25 billion if both clear. More owner groups are now willing to talk after tenders lapse, and that flexibility — not another reserve cut — may be what frees the next wave. This shift in owner expectations comes against a backdrop of recent failed mediation proceedings, such as the Thomson View en bloc, where the Strata Titles Board issued a stop order in March 2025 after dissenting owners raised objections that consenting parties could not resolve.
