Property News Singapore: September 2026 Market Update and What to Watch in October

This is our monthly round-up of property news in Singapore: the numbers that were released, the land sales that closed, the launches that opened and the rule changes that took effect, each with its source and date. It ends with the dates to watch next month. We write it from the point of view of a buyer in the north-east, so each edition also notes what changed, or didn’t, for Hougang and LinkTown Residences (Hougang Central Residences).

Property news Singapore: September 2026 in numbers

psf ppr figures converted from URA’s tendered price per square metre of gross floor area. The latest quarter’s index levels and regional breakdown are in our Singapore property prices 2026 page.

Land sales: two new benchmarks

New Upper Changi Road (Bedok). URA closed the tender on 1 September and awarded the 99-year site on 4 September to the top bidder, listed by URA as United Venture Development (Daisy) and CL Sapphire. The Business Times identified the consortium as UOL Group, Singapore Land and CapitaLand Development. UOL and CapitaLand Development are also partners in the Hougang Central site. Their S$1.425 billion bid was about 13.8% above the next bid, from City Developments and Hong Realty. BT reported the site can yield about 1,010 homes, and Knight Frank’s Leonard Tay estimated future selling prices could start from S$3,000 psf. That is an analyst estimate, not a developer price. Our Bedok condos guide covers the existing projects nearby.

Lorong Puntong / Sin Ming Avenue (near Bright Hill). The tender closed on 15 September with seven bids, and URA awarded it on 18 September to Eco World Development for S$208.1 million, about 11% above the second bid. BT reported it as a record land rate for a 99-year pure residential GLS site in the city fringe and said the plot can yield about 140 homes. Bright Hill is on the Thomson-East Coast Line and is set to become a Cross Island Line interchange.

Why it matters: land prices feed straight into launch prices a year or two later. Our GLS explainer shows how a tender becomes a condo.

New launches and sales

August sales hit a seasonal low. Developers sold 153 new private homes in August, excluding ECs, the lowest monthly figure in about 30 months according to Mogul.sg’s Nicholas Mak, as quoted by BT on 15 September. The lunar seventh month ran from 13 August to 10 September this year, and hardly any projects launched. PropNex’s Wong Siew Ying noted that about 60.1% of new non-landed homes sold in August were priced below S$2.5 million.

Amberwood at Holland opened the fourth quarter. Sim Lian Group’s 212-unit, 99-year leasehold project in the new Holland Plain precinct (District 10) began previews on 11 September. Over its launch weekend it sold 23 units, 32.9% of the 70 released in the first phase, at an average of about S$3,019 psf, as reported by BT on 27 September. The remaining units will be released in phases.

Looking across the year, BT reported on 6 September that analysts see the market as normalising after a strong 2025. ERA’s Marcus Chu said developers are “no longer selling into a rising tide”. Our new launch condos 2026–2027 list tracks the north-east pipeline.

Rules, costs and policy

• Land betterment charges (from 1 September 2026). Average rates for non-landed residential use rose 3.4% and for landed residential 3.5% in the half-yearly review, BT reported on 31 August. These are charges developers pay to intensify or change the use of land.
• HDB “jumbo” flat scheme under review (25 September 2026). HDB said it is reviewing the scheme that lets owners combine small flats after a Telok Blangah jumbo flat was listed at S$2.18 million, as reported by BT and The Straits Times.
• No change to ABSD, TDSR or SSD in September 2026. The last major tweaks came in July (the HDB resale wait-out period for private owners was lifted on 28 July).

Rates and sentiment

Borrowing costs are drifting up. The 3-month compounded SORA was 1.186% at the start of September, up from 1.029% in May, based on DBS/POSB’s published table. On 16 September the US Federal Reserve raised its target range by a quarter point to 3.75% to 4.00%. Singapore rates do not move one-for-one with US rates, but global rates feed through over time. Our home loan rates page has dated package rates.

Industry mood is mixed. The NUS Real Estate Sentiment Index for Q2 2026, released on 24 September, rose to 5.6 from 4.9 overall, but sentiment on suburban residential turned negative (current net balance −14%, from +15%), with affordability cited as the constraint, BT reported.

At the top of the HDB market, a five-room flat at Pinnacle@Duxton sold for S$1.72 million, a record for the Central Area, EdgeProp reported on 25 September.

Hougang and LinkTown Residences: no change this month

There was no new announcement on LinkTown Residences in September 2026. The launch is expected in early 2027 (UOL’s August 2026 results guide a 2H 2027 launch), and preview, showflat and price details have not been released. Analysts’ estimate remains about S$2,500 to S$2,600 psf. The New Upper Changi Road result is worth noting for context: the Hougang Central consortium’s winning bid in December 2025 was S$1,179 psf ppr, well below September’s suburban benchmark, although a mixed-use site with a mall is not directly comparable with a pure residential plot. See our launch timeline for what has been confirmed.

What to watch in October 2026

• ~1 OctQ3 2026 flash estimatesURA’s private price index and HDB’s resale price index for July to September are expected around the first working day of October.
• OctMAS Monetary Policy StatementMAS reviews policy in January, April, July and October. In July it slightly raised the rate of appreciation of its policy band.
• OctThomson Reserve launchThe 1,268-unit project by CapitaLand Development, UOL and SingLand next to Upper Thomson MRT is planned for October, BT reported on 6 September. Lucerne Grand (570 units, Lakeside) and The Serra Residences (133 units, Novena) are also in the fourth-quarter pipeline.
• 15 OctMarina Gardens Lane tender closesAbout 390 homes near Marina South MRT, per URA (13 August 2026).
• Mid-OctSeptember new home salesURA’s monthly developer sales for September, the first month after the Ghost Month.
• 29 OctOrchard Boulevard tender closesAbout 110 homes near Orchard Boulevard MRT, per URA.

Dates marked “expected” follow URA’s and MAS’s usual schedules; check the agencies’ media pages for the exact day. URA’s full Q3 statistics usually follow the flash estimate by about three to four weeks.

How we put this round-up together

More market updates: Singapore Housing Market Outlook 2027, Cross Island Line Phase 3.

Each month we use only figures we can trace to a primary source (URA, HDB, MAS, LTA, the US Federal Reserve) or to reputable media (The Business Times, The Straits Times, EdgeProp), with the date of each release. We don’t forecast prices. If you want the October edition and LinkTown Residences updates in your inbox, register your interest.

Information as at 29 September 2026. Figures from URA media releases of 13 Aug, 1, 4, 15 and 18 Sep 2026; the DBS/POSB 3M SORA table (1 Sep 2026); the US Federal Reserve (16 Sep 2026); and reports in The Business Times and EdgeProp on the dates stated. Analyst views are quoted as reported. Not financial advice. Published by an independent licensed salesperson, not the developer.