Private home prices rise further, with 3.4% increase in Q2

SINGAPORE: Private home prices in Singapore continued to rise in the second quarter of 2018 with a 3.4 per cent increase, according to flash estimates released on Monday (Jul 2) by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA).

But the increase was less than the 3.9 per cent rise in the previous quarter.

Overall, the private residential property index increased 4.9 points from 144.1 points in the 1st quarter to 149.0 points in the 2nd quarter this year.

ura-graph

Prices of non-landed private residential properties increased by 1.4 per cent in the Core Central Region (CCR), compared to the 5.5 per cent increase in the previous quarter.

Prices in the Rest of Central Region (RCR) increased by 5.7 per cent, after registering an increase of 1.2 per cent in the previous quarter.

Prices in Outside Central Region (OCR) increased by 2.9 per cent, after registering a 5.6 per cent increase in the previous quarter.

The flash estimates are compiled based on transaction prices given in contracts submitted for stamp duty payment and data on units sold by developers up until mid-June. The final statistics will be released on Jul 27.

"MARKET ON UPSWING TREND": ANALYST

Property agency OrangeTee & Tie noted that compared to the same period a year ago, private home prices were up 9.1 per cent – the highest year-on-year increase since 2011.

"With many new launches in the pipeline, we expect private home prices to continue to trend upwards for all market segments for the next quarter, especially since many projects may be launching at new benchmark prices owing to the higher land costs," head of research and consultancy Christine Sun said.

ERA's Key Executive Officer Eugene Lim said: "Market sentiment is still very positive, and this signals that the market is on an upswing trend.

"We see increasingly more buyers who are buying now for fear of further price increases going forward. Sellers have also taken the opportunity to revise their asking prices upwards."

However, Mr Lim noted that except for the shorter holding period of three years for the Seller’s Stamp Duty, other property cooling measures remain unchanged.

With the buoyant market, it is likely that the Government will keep the measures in place, he said.

"(The Government) has shown that it will intervene if necessary to cool the market, and the possibility remains that it may do so in the future, should price increases be excessive and we see the onset of property speculation."

Source: Channel News Asia

PROPERTY LAUNCHES & INVESTMENTS

Property Launches & Investments

Private home prices rise further, with 3.4% increase in Q2

Comments

Leave your comment