2Q 2026 Rental Report: Rental Growth Remains Measured Amid Modest Pick-Up in Leasing Activity

Private Residential Rental Market

In the second quarter of 2026, Singapore’s private residential rental market, including Executive Condominiums (EC), experienced a slight increase in rents and leasing activity. The all-residential rental index for private properties went up by 0.7% quarter-on-quarter (q-o-q) to 162.5, thus extending the 0.3% q-o-q growth recorded for 1Q 2026. On an annual basis, this uptick reflects an 1.7% a year-on-year (y-o-y) increase in rents compared to the same period a year ago.

Table 1: Comparison of Private Property Rental Index for 1Q 2026 and 2Q 2026 

Leasing activity for all private properties and ECs also held steady in 2Q 2026, with a modest 6.6% increase on the quarter from 21,793 contracts to 23,239 contracts. On the year, rental activity grew slightly by 4.5% compared to the 22,234 contracts in 2Q 2025. This also brought the total number of rental contracts inked in 1H 2026 to 45,032 cases, which is 3.5% higher than the 43,500 cases recorded for 1H 2025. 

Chart 1: Rental Contracts Across Landed, Non-Landed Private Properties and Executive Condominiums (Year and Quarter)

Chart 2: Rental Index of Non-Landed Private Properties (By Region) and Landed Properties

On a quarterly basis, rents for landed private homes saw the strongest increase, rising 2.7% q-o-q in 2Q 2026. This was followed by the CCR segment for non-landed private properties (excluding ECs), which registered a 1.2% q-o-q uptick in its rental index. In contrast, rents for non-landed private homes (excluding ECs) in the RCR remained flat, while OCR rents dipped 0.3% q-o-q over the same period. 

Chart 3: Private Residential and EC Completions and Expected Pipeline Supply

At the same time, completions eased slightly to 1,212 units in 2Q 2026, down from 1,271 units in the previous quarter. This latest figure comprises 512 EC units and 700 private residential homes from projects that obtained their Temporary Occupation Permit (TOP) in 2Q 2026, including Lumina Grand (EC), Ardor Residence, and Bartley Vue. 

Table 3: Notable Private Residential and EC Projects Completed in 2Q 2026 

Homes at these TOP-awarded projects also helped lift the islandwide stock of completed private residential units (excluding ECs) by 0.1% q-o-q to 424,581 units in 2Q 2026, up from 424,165 units in the previous quarter.

Table 4: Vacancy Rate of Private Residential Properties by Quarter and Market Segment 

Amid the uptick in both completions and overall stock, the vacancy rate for completed private residential properties (excluding ECs) also rose to 6.4% in 2Q 2026. 

Across market segments, the OCR saw the sharpest increase, with its vacancy rate rising from 5.2% to 5.6%. This may have been in part due to the recent completion of OCR landed projects, such as Belgravia Ace and Pollen Collection, as some units may have remained unoccupied while their owners are still preparing to move in. 

Table 5: Top 10 Non-Landed Private Projects Ranked by Rental Contracts

Among non-landed private projects, Treasure at Tampines saw the most rental activity with 171 contracts inked in 2Q 2026. Its performance was followed closely by Normanton Park and Tembusu Grand, which each saw 161 and 154 contracts, respectively. 

HDB Rental Market

Table 6: HDB median rents by town and q-o-q growth  

For 2Q 2026, Central 4-room flats recorded the sharpest gain in median rents, rising 9.5% q-o-q from $4,200 to $4,600. This was followed by 4-room flats in Geylang, where median rents increased 8.6% q-o-q from $3,500 to $3,800. The third-highest increase was seen jointly for 5-room flats in Clementi and Executive Flats in Choa Chu Kang, with rents for both rising 6.1% q-o-q to $4,350 and $3,500 respectively.

Chart 4: Number of rental approvals for HDBs

Rental applications for HDB flats rose 4.9% q-o-q to 10,002 approved cases. This brings the total number of approved HDB rentals for 1H 2026 to 19,537. Four-room flats continued to account for the largest share of quarterly rentals, with 3,684 approved applications, followed by 3-room flats with 3,274 and 5-room flats with 2,244.

Resilience expected for Singapore’s rental market in 2026 

Despite growing global uncertainty, Singapore’s residential rental market continued to hold steady in 2Q 2026, with both overall rents and leasing volumes registering quarterly increases. Barring unforeseen circumstances, this could put the private residential segment on track to meet ERA’s forecast of around 88,000 to 93,000 rental transactions by year end, accompanied by a 1% to 3% y-o-y increase in rents.

Likewise, the HDB segment continued to register increases in both median rents and rental approvals across flat types in the quarter. As a result, HDB rental volumes could remain on track to meet ERA’s forecast of 34,000 to 36,000 approved applications by end-2026, alongside a 2% to 5% y-o-y growth in median HDB rents. 

However, with the recent removal of the 15-month wait-out period for private property owners purchasing HDB resale flats on 28 July this year, rental demand could ease slightly as some tenants who might otherwise have rented during the interim period may now proceed directly to purchase a resale flat. 

This might weigh on the residential leasing demand slightly, although the overall impact is likely to be measured given the support from other tenant demographics, such as foreign expatriates or singles.