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The Truth About New Launch Condos in Singapore (2026)

What sales galleries leave out: how '% sold' works, freebies and rebates as hidden price cuts, shrinking units and rental claims, with 2026 numbers.

By Propwise EditorialUpdated 2 October 20267 min read

How we made this. Updated for 2026 with AI-assisted research. Figures are linked to their sources — check them before you act.

A new launch is a legitimate way to buy a home, with a standard contract, staged payments and a defects warranty. But it is sold by people paid to close, using a short list of tactics. The “truth” is mostly that the headline price, the ”% sold” and the freebies each hide something you can check yourself. Check them before you pay a booking fee.

At a glance

  • “70% sold” is not 70% of a project. It can count options granted, in one phase, after VIP sales. A buyer who lets an option lapse can lose only 25% of the booking fee, so units can come back on sale.
  • Compare net price per square foot of strata area. A lower total price can hide a smaller home, and a freebie is a discount you should be able to price.
  • Ask for every promise in writing. URA tells buyers to get written confirmation of anything offered outside the specifications.
  • The agent at the gallery works for the developer. URA’s Home Buyers’ Guide says appointed agents represent the developer’s interests.
  • 2026 is a buyer-friendly supply backdrop. URA counted 15,810 unsold units with planning approval at end-June, so a “last few units” claim deserves scrutiny.

What has changed since this article was first written

Earlier versions of this article, written between 2013 and 2020, talked about ABSD of 5% to 15% and earlier Seller’s Stamp Duty terms. Those figures are gone. Today a citizen pays 20% ABSD on a second home and 30% on a third. SSD for homes bought from 4 July 2025 runs for four years at 16% / 12% / 8% / 4% (IRAS). The old “buy at launch, flip before completion” play is expensive now. The sales tactics have not changed much, though.

Tactic 1: the crowd and the ”% sold”

A full car park, a queue of agents and groups at the discussion tables make a launch look hot. A headline of “70% sold” adds to the effect. Ask what it leaves out: how many units were released in this phase, how many phases there are, and how many units went to VIPs before the launch.

The headline can also overstate real sales. Under the standard process in URA’s Home Buyers’ Guide, you pay a booking fee of 5% to 10% for an option. You then have three weeks from delivery of the contract to sign it. If you do not, the developer may keep 25% of the booking fee and resell the unit. So an option can be counted as a sale and then return. In 2018 and 2019, earlier versions of this article tracked gaps between launch-weekend claims and later official data. The mechanism has not changed.

What to do. Look at the project’s figures in URA’s developers’ sales information and recent transactions in later months, not the launch-weekend press report.

Walking away costs less than you think. Say you pay a 5% booking fee on a S$2.0m unit: S$100,000. If you let the option lapse, the developer may keep 25% of it, or S$25,000. That is a real loss, and still far cheaper than buying a home you doubt. If an agent asks for a “blank” cheque as an expression of interest, URA says it is not a commitment to buy. Ask for it back if you do not proceed.

Tactic 2: the carrot

Developers rarely like to cut the list price, because it hurts earlier buyers and the project’s price record. So the discount often arrives as something else.

TacticWhat it really isHow to price it
Cash rebateA price cut paid laterTake the net price. Ask your lawyer how it affects stamp duty and your loan
Furniture or renovation voucherA discount in kindAsk for the same value off the price instead
Rental guaranteePart of the price handed back as “rent”Add up the guaranteed rent and treat it as a discount, then ask who backs it and when it ends
“Star buy” unitsLeftover stock, often bad facing or returned unitsFind out why the unit is still there
Mark-up then discountList prices raised, then cutCompare with recent transactions in the same project

Worked example (mark-up then discount). A unit sells for S$1.8m. The developer raises the list price to S$2.0m, a rise of 11.1%, then offers a “10% launch discount”. The buyer pays 0.9 × S$2.0m = S$1.8m. The discount is real on paper and nil in practice. Only a check of recent transactions in the project shows it.

What does the law say about extras? Developers may offer items beyond the contract specifications. URA’s guide advises written confirmation of any such item. It also notes that curtains, lighting and wallpaper in the show unit are decoration and will not be provided.

Tactic 3: the shrinking home

A S$1.5m price sounds cheaper than a S$1.8m price. But it may buy less home. Compare price per square foot (psf) on strata area, the area in the contract.

Worked example. A new one-bedder-plus-study of 650 sq ft at S$1.5m costs S$2,308 psf. An older 1,000 sq ft three-bedder at S$1.7m costs S$1,700 psf. The first has the lower price tag and the higher unit price, by about 36%.

Developers must show the unit’s area broken down into rooms, balcony, air-con ledge and void before they take your booking fee, according to URA. Read the breakdown and subtract the voids and ledges. URA also limits very small units. For sites outside the Central Area, its handbook says no more than 20% of dwelling units may have a nett internal area of 50 sqm (about 538 sq ft) or less. So tiny units exist, but they cannot be most of a project. Our guide to picking the best unit shows how to read a floor plan.

Tactic 4: the “guaranteed” return

If you are buying to rent out, an agent may quote a yield. Do the sum yourself.

Worked example (assumptions, not a forecast). Say a citizen with no other property buys a S$1.8m unit and expects S$5,000 a month in rent.

  • Loan at 75%: S$1.35m, at 1.8% over 30 years. The instalment is about S$4,856 a month. About S$2,025 of it is interest in the first month, and the rest builds equity.
  • Maintenance: S$450 a month (assumed).
  • Property tax for a rented home, with annual value assumed at S$60,000: 12% on the first S$30,000, 20% on the next S$15,000 and 28% on the next S$15,000, which is S$10,800 a year, or S$900 a month (IRAS rates).
  • Cash needed up front: 25% (S$450,000) plus S$59,600 of BSD, about S$509,600, before legal fees.

The gross yield is S$60,000 ÷ S$1.8m = 3.3%. After the instalment, maintenance and tax, the monthly cash flow is S$5,000 − S$4,856 − S$450 − S$900 = −S$1,206. That is a cash-on-cash return of about −2.8% a year, before any capital gain. If this were a second home for a citizen, ABSD of 20% (S$360,000) would apply, and the loan limit would fall to 45%. Package rates are about 1.5–1.8% floating and 2.0–2.2% fixed after the September Fed hike, so your own result will differ. Try your own numbers in the mortgage calculator. Check agent claims against URA’s published rental data, and against listings of comparable homes.

What a new launch does give you

Balance matters. Licensed developers must use the standard option and sale agreement. They cannot amend them without the Controller of Housing’s approval. They owe you vacant possession by a set date, with damages if they are late. If the final surveyed area is more than 3% smaller than the contract area, the price is reduced for the excess. You also get a 12-month defects liability period. Our guide on developer defects explains how it works.

You also get time. Payments follow construction stages, and your loan is drawn only as stages complete. For a fuller comparison, see new launch vs resale.

The 2026 backdrop

URA’s flash estimate put private home prices up 1.4% in Q3 2026. The gain was uneven: +2.2% outside the central region, +0.2% in the rest of the central region, and −0.1% in the core central region. Supply is ample. URA counted 15,810 unsold units with planning approval at end-June 2026, and the 2026 land sales programme confirms 9,320 more homes. Developers need buyers as much as buyers need homes. That is your leverage to ask for the net price in writing.

Bottom line

Treat a launch as a negotiation. Ignore ”% sold” and queue photos. Check recent transactions, compare psf on strata area, price every freebie as a discount, and run the rental maths yourself. Get your loan approved before you pay a booking fee. If the numbers work after all that, the launch is a fair deal. If they only work with the freebies, you are paying for the freebies. This is general information, not financial advice.

Sources

new launchesdevelopersshow flatsprice per square footprivate home sales

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