Auction listings up by 7.1% q-o-q in 1Q2025, mortgagee sale listings likely to continue growing: Knight Frank
Four of the real estates were sold at their respective opening prices: A three-bedroom condo at Scotts Square brought $4.1 million; a HDB shophouse in Serangoon was sold for $1.9 million; a market outlet at The Commerze @ Irving obtained $637,000; and a manufacturing facility unit at T99 altered hands for $635,000.
“While there was no significant rise in listings in 1Q2025, this may be the calm before the storm of cleaning global tariffs and an impending trade war strikes,” claims Sharon Lee, head of public auction and sales at Knight Frank Singapore.
The Singapore property auction industry found a total amount of 136 auction lists (including repeat lists and leaving out properties marketed beyond auction) in 1Q2025, up 7.1% q-o-q compared to the previous quarter, based upon information assembled by Knight Frank Singapore.
Another property, a two-bedder residence in D’Ecosia, was knocked down at $1.7 million– a 14.7% premium to its opening price of $1.5 million. At the same time, a manufacturing facility unit at In-Space and a one-bedder at Le Wood were sold for $1.9 million and $ 1 million each, translating to discount rates of 3.8% and 2.9% from their starting prices.
The auction sector additionally noticed a greater growth rate in 1Q2025. Seven lists were hit down last quarter, showing a growth rate of 5.1%. This is considerably higher than the 1.6% success rate documented in 4Q2024. The seven postings comprise five mortgagee sales and two owner sales.
Knight Frank associates the greater success price to more buyer interest, as US interest rate cuts ever since September 2024 have actually encouraged buyers to look out for opportunities. The properties effectively auctioned in 1Q2025 had an overall gross sale value of $11.9 million.
In General, Knight Frank is forecasting a success rate of about 5% for the entire of 2025, in accordance with the ordinary yearly auction success price of 5.1% spanning the last ten years.
Owner sale listings clocked in at 43, going down 23.2% q-o-q from 56 listings recorded in 4Q2024. The remaining ten auction postings were for other sorts of sales– five non commercial units listed as sheriff sales, three liquidator sales of factories, a bank sale of a commercial unit, and an estate sale of a non-landed house.
In terms of real estate type, residential properties made up 45.6% (62) of total listings, up from the 46 home listings in the last quarter. Commercial real estates made up 38 (28%) listings, comprising 36 retail units and 2 office units, contrasted to 36 retail units and 6 offices listed in 4Q2024. Industrial real estates comprised 23.5% (32) of the total listings, up by one listing contrasted to the previous quarter. There were additionally two shophouse listings in 1Q2025, compared to five in the previous quarter.
Looking forward, Knight Frank anticipates the uptick in mortgagee sale listings to proceed throughout the year, as even more distressed assets materialise due to the prolonged high rates of interest in 2023 and 2024. Additionally, the extensive tolls revealed by the Trump administration might result in a dampening influence on the realty market.
Mortgagee sales accounted for 83 home listings in 1Q2025, up 23.9% q-oq from 67 listings in the last quarter. Knight Frank associates the quarterly rise to the prolonged influence of high rates of interest all throughout 2023 and 2024, which triggered a rise in troubled assets to get in the public auction market.
According to the firm, the rise was “unexpected”, as it overlaped with Chinese New Year events that normally lead to a time-out in sell-off activity.
While initial buyer interest was monitored in 1Q2025, Knight Frank expects buyers to re-adopt “a careful wait-and-see position” amid the growing uncertainty. That said, with additional rates of interest cuts expected, the company notes that there could be a renewed interest from real estate financiers seeking to capitalise on the increase in mortgagee sale home listings.
