S1E71: Fewer babies, slower boom? The future of Singapore’s real estate market

About this episode

The episode discusses how Singapore's declining fertility rate may impact the real estate market by 2050.

Why Singapore’s low fertility rate last year could really redefine real estate from 2050. Synopsis: On Wednesdays, The Straits Times takes a hard look at Singapore's social issues of the day with newsmakers. Singapore is producing fewer babies. Its birth rate, measured by the total fertility rate (TFR), plunged to a record low of 0.87 in 2025, continuing the downtrend of 0.97 in 2023.  The citizen population may start to shrink by the early 2040s. In February 2026, Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong stressed the need to therefore have a “carefully managed immigration flow to augment our low birth rate”. As the population shrinks, who would be the buyers in the property market in the future? To delve deeper into this, Lynda Hong hosts Mr Alan Cheong, executive director of consultancy at Savills Singapore.  They also discuss how fewer buyers in the future would push the property market to be rental-based, rather than ownership-driven. They chat too, about the future of the Voluntary Early Redevelopment Scheme (Vers) and how rapid changing technology could change immigration policy.  Highlights (click/tap above):  7:54 How shrinking family…

People in this episode

Host: Lynda Hong

Guest: Mr Alan Cheong

Topics covered

• real estate
• fertility rate
• immigration policy
• property market
• future trends
• Singapore

Keywords

• Singapore
• real estate
• fertility rate
• immigration
• property market
• Generation Rent
• Voluntary Early Redevelopment Scheme
• Alan Cheong

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Savills Singapore

Places: Singapore

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