The Singapore property auction market ended 4Q2024 with 127 auction listings (including repeat listings and excluding properties sold outside of auction), up 47.7% q-o-q as compared to the previous quarter, according to a market report by Knight Frank Singapore.

This brings total auction listings for 2024 to 418, a 16.8% y-o-y increase from 358 listings in 2023.

Despite the higher listings, auction success rates declined on both a quarterly and yearly basis. In 4Q2024, two listings were knocked down, which reflects a success rate of 1.6%. This is down from the 5.8% success rate recorded in 3Q2024 and marked the lowest success rate in 2024, says Knight Frank. The properties sold had a total gross sale value of $2.3 million.

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For the whole of 2024, 15 properties were sold, representing a gross sales value of $28.7 million, down 17.5% y-o-y. This translates to a 3.6% success rate for the year, compared to the 6.7% success rate for 2023.

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Knight Frank attributes the lower success rate to a gap that remains in price expectations between buyers and sellers. “Although listings have increased, the bid-ask gap is often resolved with transactions that are concluded after the auction by private treaty, rather than during the event,” adds Sharon Lee, head of auction and sales at Knight Frank.

Auction listings in 2024 were bolstered by an uptick in mortgagee sale listings, as it rose by 61.3% y-o-y to 171 listings. Meanwhile, owner’s auction listings and other listing types remained stable at 234 and 13 listings, respectively.

In 4Q2024, mortgagee sale listings rose 67.5% q-o-q to 67, while owner sale listings rose 36.6% q-o-q to 56. There were also three trustee sale listings and one sheriff sale listing.

In terms of property type, residential properties comprised 46 (36.2%) of the listings for the quarter, followed by industrial properties, which rose to 31 listings (24.4%). There were also 36 retail shops, six offices and five shophouse listings.

Among the mortgagee sale listings in 4Q2024, residential properties accounted for 25, comprising 20 non-landed properties and five landed properties.

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Commercial properties made up 16 mortgagee listings within the same quarter, comprising only retail shops. On the other hand, industrial mortgagee listings more than doubled to 26 properties, up from 12 listings in 3Q2024.

According to Knight Frank, no mortgagee listings were sold under the hammer in 4Q2024 due to creditors maintaining prices at market levels for distressed properties.

For owner sales, Knight Frank’s report indicates 20 residential listings in 4Q2024, comprising 17 non-landed residences and three landed homes. Commercial properties accounted for 26 listings (20 retail units and six offices), while industrial properties totalled four.

The two listings that were successfully knocked down in 4Q2024 were both auctioned by Knight Frank. One of these was a trustee sale of a walk-up apartment along Dickson Road. The unit sold at a premium of 18.2% from its opening price of $1.3 million. The other property that was sold in an auction was the owner's sale of a two-bedroom apartment at Bayshore Park, which transacted at its opening price of $1.02 million.

Moving forward, rising bankruptcy applications could translate to increasing mortgagee sale listings in 2025, predicts Knight Frank. Data compiled by the Ministry of Law shows that 4,521 bankruptcy applications were made between January and November 2024, exceeding the 3,986 applications in 2023.

At the same time, the firm expects owner-sale listings to grow and exceed mortgagee listings this year, continuing the trend which has lasted the last four years.

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In line with the average annual auction success rate of 5.1% spanning the last 10 years, Knight Frank expects a similar success rate of approximately 5% in 2025.

Check out the latest listings for Bayshore Park properties

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