Rising condo transaction volume watchlist
Rising transaction volume can make a condo easier to read, but it does not prove that prices are rising. This watchlist compares the latest six months with the prior six, requires meaningful activity in both periods, and ranks projects by the actual increase rather than the loudest percentage.
Published Jul 2026. Data is for research and comparison only.The direct answer
A rise in transaction volume means more rental contracts and sales were recorded in the latest six-month period than in the six months before it. That can be useful. More recent deals give buyers, sellers and landlords a larger set of evidence. It can also show that a newly completed project is entering the resale or rental market.
Volume does not tell you direction by itself. A project can become busier while sale PSF falls, while rent stays flat, or while owners accept lower prices to transact. It can also jump because the earlier period contained almost nothing. Treat the watchlist as a prompt to open the project page, not as a reason to buy.
The cleaner question is not which project has the largest percentage. It is which project added meaningful transactions, had a usable base in the earlier period, and shows rent or sale evidence that explains why the activity matters.
How this watchlist is built
The comparison uses combined private rental and sale activity for each named project. It adds the latest six months of recorded transactions, compares that total with the previous six months, and keeps projects where activity increased by at least 25%. Rentals and sales are combined because both can reveal that a development is becoming easier to observe.
This stricter version requires at least 40 transactions in the recent period and at least 10 in the prior period. That removes many dramatic changes such as one transaction becoming seven. Those projects still deserve their own pages, but the percentage is too sensitive to lead a national watchlist.
The final order uses the absolute increase in transactions. A move from 29 to 233 adds 204 records. A move from one to sixteen adds fifteen. The second percentage is larger, yet the first creates far more new evidence for someone comparing the market.
The current leaders
Tembusu Grand leads the current filtered list, moving from 29 combined transactions in the earlier six months to 233 in the latest six months. That is an increase of 204 records. The Landmark follows with 191 versus 28, adding 163. Lentor Modern records 175 versus 17, adding 158.
Those jumps are large enough to change how useful the project page feels. A buyer can see more recent rental and sale evidence, while a landlord has more contracted rents to compare. The figures still need context because all three projects can be affected by completion timing, new leases and the transition from developer sales into normal ownership activity.
Piccadilly Grand also stands out with 160 recent transactions against 51 before, an increase of 109. Its percentage rise is smaller than the three leaders, but the earlier base is deeper. That makes the comparison less dependent on a nearly empty starting period.
Why absolute growth beats a flashy percentage
A percentage is useful only when the denominator deserves trust. If one transaction becomes eleven, the increase is 1,000%. That sounds stronger than a project moving from 141 to 196, even though the second project completed 185 more transactions across the two periods and added 55 in the latest comparison.
The M is a good example of the deeper pattern. Its recent period has 196 transactions against 141 previously, a 39% increase. It will sit below new projects with several-hundred-per-cent jumps, but the underlying activity is much harder to dismiss as a small-base effect.
Use both readings. Percentage change shows acceleration. Absolute change shows how much evidence was added. The recent and prior totals show whether the comparison has depth. A useful watchlist puts all three beside the project name.
New completions can dominate the list
A newly completed condo can produce a sharp rise when owners collect keys, tenants move in and subsale or resale activity begins to appear. That is a life-cycle change, not automatic proof that the address suddenly became more desirable. The market is finally able to record a type of activity that barely existed in the earlier period.
This does not make the signal useless. The first active rental months reveal tenant demand, unit-size pricing and how much supply owners are bringing to market. Early sales can show whether completed units are clearing above or below earlier expectations. The mistake is comparing this ramp-up with a mature condo as if both started from the same point.
Check the project's completion and tenure facts, then look at the monthly chart. If activity rises in a clear sequence after completion, read it as the market forming. If an older project jumps without an obvious life-cycle event, look harder at price movement, collective-sale news, a burst of leases or a one-off cluster of sales.
Separate rent-led and sale-led activity
Combined volume is the first screen, but the next click should separate rentals from sales. A project with 180 new rental contracts and a handful of sales is telling a tenant-demand and new-supply story. A project with rising sales and little rent may be showing owner-occupier demand, developer sales or a shift in resale liquidity.
Tembusu Grand, Lentor Modern and The Landmark currently carry substantial rental evidence in their latest twelve-month project summaries. Union Square Residences and Arina East Residences are more sale-led in the current data. The same combined-volume label therefore points to different market stories.
For a buyer, sale depth usually gives the closer price anchor. For a landlord, rental depth matters more. An investor needs both because the entry price and the income case can move in opposite directions.
Check whether price confirms the activity
After opening a watchlist project, compare recent sale PSF with the earlier monthly pattern. Rising volume with rising PSF suggests buyers are accepting more deals at stronger pricing, but unit mix can still distort the median. A run of smaller units can lift PSF even when the total price story is less dramatic.
Rising volume with flat PSF can be healthy. It may mean the market is clearing at an established range and producing better comparables. Rising volume with falling PSF needs a different reading: sellers may be meeting buyers, new supply may be increasing choice, or the transactions may be concentrated in different unit types.
Do the same for rent. A wave of first leases can raise volume while median rent softens as many owners compete for tenants. That can be useful for a renter and uncomfortable for a landlord. Higher activity is information, not a verdict.
Unit mix can change the headline
Project totals combine studios, family units, penthouses and everything between. If the recent six months contain more compact units than the prior period, transaction count can rise while total sale value or median price moves for reasons unrelated to broad demand. The same problem appears when one large unit type begins transacting after a quiet period.
Use the area-band and bedroom sections on the project page where the sample allows it. Compare like with like before saying the project is heating up. A two-bedroom buyer needs recent two-bedroom or similar-area evidence, not a project headline driven by one-bedroom leases.
Floor band matters on sales as well. A burst of lower-floor deals may create a different median from a period dominated by high floors. Volume makes the project easier to study, but it does not remove the need to choose the right records.
What buyers should do with the watchlist
Buyers can use rising volume to find projects where the fair-price range may be getting clearer. Open the recent sale table, note total price and PSF, then narrow by floor area and floor band. If several close transactions cluster together, the asking price has a stronger reality check.
Do not pay a premium because the project appears on the list. Ask whether the higher activity improved the evidence or merely followed completion. Compare nearby projects with similar tenure, age and unit size. A busy project can still be expensive relative to a realistic alternative.
Volume can also help with exit planning. A project that regularly produces rentals and sales may offer more visible demand than a thin boutique development. That does not guarantee a fast future sale, but it gives the buyer more history to examine before committing.
What sellers should do with the watchlist
Sellers gain more comparables when project activity rises. That can support an asking range if close units have recently cleared at similar total prices and PSF. It can also make an ambitious listing harder to defend because buyers have more alternatives inside the same development.
Look at the latest sales rather than quoting the volume increase alone. If transaction count rose because sellers accepted a narrower range, price near that evidence unless the unit has a clear premium for floor, view, condition, layout or size. A busy market does not automatically reward the highest asking price.
Timing still matters. A cluster of listings can raise transaction volume and competition at the same time. Sellers should inspect current supply with an agent, because completed transaction data cannot show every live listing or withdrawn unit.
What landlords and investors should do
A rent-led volume increase gives landlords more evidence for setting an asking rent. Compare the latest project median with bedroom and area bands, then check whether rent is stable or moving. More leases can confirm tenant interest, but they can also show that many owners are competing at once.
Investors should pair the recent rent with the latest sale price in the rental-yield calculator. Use conservative vacancy, maintenance, tax, furnishing and financing assumptions outside the gross-yield headline. A project with rising activity but falling rent support may not deserve a higher entry price.
New projects need extra patience. First leases can include different furnishing packages, incentives and lease timing. Give the market enough months to form before treating one early median as the permanent rent level.
Red flags in a volume ranking
The first red flag is a tiny prior period. Any percentage built from one or two transactions can swing wildly. The second is a recent total that remains small. Seven transactions may matter for that project, but it is not enough to lead a national claim about momentum.
The third red flag is mixing unnamed or generic developments into a project ranking. A label such as non-landed housing development can combine records that do not describe one useful consumer-facing project. This watchlist uses named projects so every row leads to a page a reader can inspect.
The fourth is ignoring the latest month. URA rental and sale data arrive on different schedules, and a partial month can pull the recent period down. Use the comparison as published, then check the data page for current coverage before treating a small change as settled.
A calmer way to read momentum
Start with three columns: recent six-month activity, prior six-month activity and the absolute gain. Then open the project and ask which side created the change. Check sale PSF, total sale price, rent, unit mix and completion timing. That sequence turns a ranking into a research path.
A mature project with steady activity and a modest increase may offer cleaner evidence than a new project with a spectacular percentage. A new project can still be the more interesting market event. The two belong on the same watchlist for different reasons, and the project pages explain the difference.
Keep the conclusion proportional to the evidence. Rising volume means the project became busier in the comparison window. Price direction, rent support and value still need their own checks.
The final watchlist check
Before acting on a row, confirm that the project is named correctly, the latest and prior periods both contain a useful sample, and the increase is not just one unusual month. Separate rent from sales and compare the relevant unit type. Then check nearby projects and the wider district.
For buyers and sellers, the closest completed sales should carry more weight than the ranking position. For tenants and landlords, contracted rent and unit-size evidence should lead. For investors, the sale and rent stories have to work together after costs.
The watchlist is doing its job when it sends you to a better question. It is not trying to crown the hottest condo in Singapore.
Projects adding the most activity
Named projects with at least 40 recent transactions, 10 in the prior six months and 25% growth, ranked by the actual number of transactions added.
Quick answers
Short answers based on the current data view.
Does rising condo transaction volume mean prices will rise?
No. Volume shows that a project became busier. Check recent sale PSF, total sale price, rent and unit mix before deciding what the extra activity means.
How is the condo volume watchlist calculated?
It compares combined rentals and sales in the latest six months with the prior six. The stricter list requires at least 40 recent transactions, 10 prior transactions and 25% growth, then ranks by the actual increase.
Why not rank only by percentage growth?
A tiny starting value can create a huge percentage. Absolute growth and the recent and prior totals show whether the project added enough evidence to deserve attention.
Should new condos be compared with mature projects?
They can share a watchlist, but the reason for rising activity differs. New completions often ramp up as keys are collected and leases begin, while mature projects need a different explanation for a sudden increase.
Suggested properties
Project pages connected to this guide, with rent, sale, tenure and transaction signals.
