While the broader private home market quietly contracted — overall sales slipping 12% to 10,909 units in the first half of 2026 — Singapore’s luxury segment broke in the opposite direction, with Core Central Region transactions jumping 24.7% to 353 units and ultra-luxury deals above S$10 million hitting a 15-quarter high. This isn’t just a statistical anomaly. It’s a signal worth paying close attention to.
The numbers tell a story of deliberate flight to quality. New sales of CCR units priced at S$5 million and above surged 78% to 73 units, with River Modern alone accounting for 44 of those transactions. The average prime non-landed price climbed 8.3% to S$2,689 psf — and The Marq‘s top deal, a 6,232 sq ft unit that changed hands for S$37 million, illustrated just how committed serious buyers remain.
Here’s the contrarian read most people are missing: foreign ABSDs, widely blamed for cooling the luxury market, have actually refined it. By pricing out speculative foreign capital, the 60% duty has left behind only ultra-high-net-worth buyers who can genuinely absorb the cost. The result is a leaner, more conviction-driven buyer pool — and that’s structurally healthier than the froth we saw pre-2023.
What’s driving local demand is equally telling. Newly minted Singapore citizens and PRs, many upgrading from tenancy for the first time, are entering CCR alongside overseas-based Singaporeans seeking capital preservation. The CCR-to-RCR price gap has narrowed meaningfully, making prime districts feel more accessible to this expanding domestic cohort. When RCR and OCR prices are declining while CCR gains 2.0% in Q2 2026, that’s not noise — that’s structural repricing. Notably, new CCR condo sales jumped fivefold to 1,916 units in 2025 from just 378 in 2024, underscoring how decisively local and new-resident buyers have stepped into the void left by foreign purchasers. Singapore’s broader investment market further reinforced this momentum, with property investment sales reaching a record S$15.4 billion in Q1 2026 according to Knight Frank. Adding further tailwind to buyer confidence, three-month SORA rates fell to 1.14% as of January 2026 — the lowest level since July 2022 — bringing two-year fixed home loan rates down to the 1.4%–1.5% range and meaningfully reducing the carry cost for high-value acquisitions.
If you’re a buyer or investor watching this space, the S$5 million to S$10 million band in prime districts 1, 2, 9, 10, and 11 is where I’d focus. Large-format apartments above 2,500 sq ft remain the sweet spot for ultra-luxury demand, and supply in that category stays tight.
The trajectory here points toward continued prime market resilience, particularly as global uncertainty keeps Singapore’s safe-haven reputation front and centre for wealth preservation.
