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About three in four female residents (73.4 per cent) here aged 25 to 29 were single in 2025, up from 69 per cent in 2020.

For their male counterparts in the same age bracket, the proportion of singles rose from 81.6 per cent in 2020 to 85.9 per cent in 2025.

For men, the sharpest increase in singlehood was among those aged 30 to 34, from 41.9 per cent in 2020 to 47.6 per cent in 2025.

Overall, married couple-based households with children remained the most common household living arrangement in Singapore. They made up 47.6 per cent of all resident households, a slight dip from 50.4 per cent in 2020.

SINGAPORE – Singapore’s core inflation held steady in May, but the authorities warn that higher energy costs are expected to raise production and transport costs for a wider range of imported goods and services over time.

Core inflation – which excludes private transport and accommodation to better reflect household expenses – came in at 1.4 per cent in May, unchanged from April.

Economists polled by Bloomberg had forecast that core inflation would rise to 1.6 per cent.

Overall inflation was 1.8 per cent in May, also unchanged from April.
This was because higher private transport and accommodation inflation, together with firmer food and retail and other goods inflation, was largely offset by lower services inflation, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) said in a joint release on June 23.

The authorities also warned that global energy costs, which remain higher than in 2025, are not yet fully reflected in local prices.

“On the domestic front, services unit labour costs are likely to increase at a slower pace this year as nominal wage growth eases from the firm levels last year. Meanwhile, domestic consumer spending could turn more cautious amid the economic uncertainty.”

Services inflation fell to 1.3 per cent in May, from 1.5 per cent in April, due to a sharper drop in telecommunication services prices.

A slower-than-expected resumption of global energy supplies or continued shortages in key intermediate inputs to regional supply chains could further raise imported costs for Singapore, they said, while warning of possible downside risks.

“A stronger-than-expected tightening in global financial conditions could lead to a slowdown in economic activity and thus lower inflation.”

Today, the SSD has only “sort of” killed house-flipping in the market. While the policy incentivises most sellers to wait out the four-year period before selling their property, I think it still hasn’t killed the idea of the short-term hold.

This stems from the expectation, and assumption, of a few developer pricing strategies. Namely, that developers tend to price new projects at a relatively lower initial selling price compared to the average resale price of the area, before gradually increasing the average selling price in subsequent sales phases.

This means that when the development is completed, or attains its Temporary Occupation Permit (TOP), the units will be at their highest price in terms of developer sales.

Now this isn’t always clear cut. We see instances when developers may not raise the price if they feel sales are too sluggish, or they may not raise the price in response to black swan events such as new property cooling measures.

Alternatively, there are times when developers may not release the most premium units for sale at launch, or only release units of a certain size or floor level in order to sell them first.

Nonetheless, most of a project’s earliest buyers will end up seeing a higher capital return when the units are subsequently sold on the resale market. We’ve previously analysed over 20,000 buy-sell transactions involving new launches since 2011, and the results broadly support this. 

Recently, I see more buyers who understand this approach towards purchasing new condo units, or it is introduced to them by agents. As a result, some of these buyers decide that since the average price in a new development is expected to increase by the time it attains its TOP, they can realise a healthy capital return without being locked into the unit for too long.

They just need to secure a good unit at the start of the sales phase – that is also at a competitive price – and then wait till the development completes its TOP, or right after the SSD period, to sell the unit and walk away. Some might realise this resale gain sooner through a sub-sale, which is selling the unit before the entire project is completed.

However, in reality, your listing has been up on various property portals for months, and no one is responding. I would point out that even before the Covid-19 pandemic, we had already identified cases of projects where prices fell instead of rising, during or just after the launch process.

About two years ago, a buyer purchased a three-bedroom unit in a high profile Bukit Timah condo. I can’t give out the details, but let’s just say it’s a project connected to an MRT station, and showed significant promise when it first launched for sale. 

This buyer bought the unit with the intention of holding it for only a few years, and in fact the property did see its prices rise. However, it wasn’t a big price jump (around 15% over a roughly five-year period), and it took far longer for this to materialise than initially expected.

The subject unit by this seller remained on the market for close to a year before a buyer was eventually found.
For comparison, listings are usually the hottest within the first two weeks. Buyers already scouting out an area are quick to notice when units crop up for sale, and even those close to buying another project will typically want to view the unit just to make sure they’re making the right choice.

But in this particular case, the unit went without a successful enquiry for close to six months before seeing any real buying interest, and it took about a year for a deal to cross the line.

While the original buyer did make some profits in the end; firstly, it took far longer than originally planned to find a buyer, and the owners were fortunate that they had somewhere else to stay and could still rent out the unit to cover ongoing costs.

The rationale was familiar. The buyer entered early during the sales phase and heard the usual spiel about how prices in the development would rise. They were further encouraged by the explanation of the Progressive Payment Scheme (PPS). 

Under the PPS, buyers only pay for their property in stages as construction progresses. In effect, they don’t pay the full monthly repayment from the start, as is the case with resale projects. Instead, the monthly repayments increase as the bank disburses more of the loan in stages.

This can contribute even further to potential resale gains, since the buyer is paying lower interest costs during construction, as the interest is applied to only a portion of the loan rather than the full full amount.

The buyer was also reassured that Novena is a mature, proven location with strong tenant demand. So, even if they couldn’t sell right after the development attained its TOP, it was “simple” to just rent out the unit until they eventually found a buyer.

This all sounds sensible on paper. But when the development was completed, the intended resale didn’t happen. Online listings were put up and the brand new unit was staged to attract buyers, but there were no inquiries for months. As a result, the buyer found herself becoming a landlord by necessity rather than by choice. 

When a tenant was eventually found, managing the tenancy ended up being a major focus. Requests, complaints, maintenance issues, and even quarrels with the management ended up becoming problems for this buyer to manage

This highlights a problem with one of the most common reassurances given to short-term investors: “If you can’t sell, just rent it out.” 

The reality is that renting out a property doesn’t always solve the problem, it might just replace one problem with another. Rental income can help offset holding costs and mortgage repayments. But once a tenant moves in, selling the property can become more complicated.

Mr Gan added that domestic-facing and essential sectors, such as healthcare, early childhood education, social services and skilled trades will continue to provide important employment opportunities.

“We must make these jobs better through productivity improvements, stronger skills recognition, wage progression, and clearer career pathways,” he added.

Combined ‌onshore oil product stocks totalled 44.83 million barrels in the week to May 6, the lowest since late July 2025, Enterprise Singapore data showed.

Stocks for light and middle distillates - gasoline, diesel and jet fuel - slid last week while residual fuel inventories held near a one-year low as imports from the Middle East remained near zero.

Residual fuel inventories - the most stored oil product in Singapore storage tanks that typically goes into ships as marine fuel - totalled 19.88 million barrels, up 387,000 barrels on the week, hovering near the 50-week ⁠low of 19.488 million barrels in the previous week.

"Residue inventories are coming off, likely from the effect of lower fuel oil yields from the refineries that have needed to switch to a lighter crude diet," said June Goh, senior oil market analyst at Sparta Commodities.

The city-state turned into a net gasoil importer for the first time in almost three months, as total imports rose ‌more ⁠than two times from a week earlier, while total exports fell by 5% from a week earlier.

As for jet fuel, net exports rose 91% week on week to around 46,800 tons (368,784 barrels), ⁠the data showed.
North Asian refiners are expected to increase middle distillate exports in May although volumes remained lower than pre-war levels.

Meanwhile, Singapore light distillate inventories fell to a 19-week low as net gasoline exports sharply outpaced imports, with strong outbound flows to regional markets such as Indonesia, Malaysia, ⁠Australia and Vietnam draining stocks.

Gasoline exports stood at about 479,000 metric tons (about 4 million barrels) in the week, far exceeding imports of roughly 288,000 tons, with Indonesia alone taking nearly 219,000 tons, while inflows from key suppliers including Saudi Arabia, South Korea and Japan failed to ⁠offset the drawdown.

Naphtha inventories likely edged higher as imports of about 176,000 tons (1.6 million barrels) exceeded exports of around 50,000 tons, with cargoes arriving from China, Malaysia, Trinidad and Tobago and the United States outweighing outbound shipments mainly to Malaysia and South Korea.

Business owners, property agents and regular visitors to the area told CNA TODAY that a combination of factors – such as high setup costs, rent concerns and the inherent challenges of operating in quieter stretches today – may be making things harder. 

As at May 8, listings** **for some newly developed units show asking rents of about S$8 per square foot (psf) to S$11 psf, translating to roughly S$8,000 to S$10,000 a month for a unit size of 853 sq ft to 1,464 sq ft – although CNA TODAY understands that asking rents for some units are now about half of what landlords were seeking when they first entered the market.

Based on transaction data compiled by one agent, several retail units at Atlassia are estimated** **to have sold for about S$3.2 million to S$6 million at launch in 2022, or roughly S$3,600 psf to S$4,100 psf. Comprehensive public data on these transactions is limited.

These relatively high purchase prices, said agents, could have an impact on rental expectations today.