Several property players have expressed their views on the Q3 property statistics released by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA).
Last week, the URA reported that prices of private residential properties in Singapore grew only 1.3 percent in Q3, lower than the two percent growth in Q2.
It was the eighth consecutive quarter that increases in overall private housing prices had moderated, it added.
Chia Siew Chuin, Director of Research & Advisory of Colliers International, said that the price moderation in previous quarter “could be reflective of a more cautious market sentiment.”
“The continued slowdown in private home price increase can be attributed to home buyers becoming more cautious and resistant towards further price growth — amid heightened uncertainties in the external environment and the ramped-up residential state land supply, which capped price growth to some extent,” she said.
Mohamed Ismail, Chief Executive Officer of PropNex, attributed the home price moderation to the series of cooling measures imposed between September 2009 and January 2011.
“As such, it is not startling to see the private home price growth slowdown continuing in Q3, especially when coupled with the ongoing uncertainty in the global economy,” he commented.
In addition, the URA saw a price moderation in non-landed properties in the Core Central Region (CCR), with a mere 0.7 percent increase in Q3, compared to 1.6 percent in Q2.
“This trend indicates buyers’ prudence and price-sensitivity, as the CCR continued to see, comparatively, a lack of market activities, where total volume of units sold in the region fell by 60.6 percent quarter-on- quarter to just 207 units in Q3,” Chia added.
Going forward, Li Hiaw Ho, Executive Director of CBRE, believes that the market has become increasingly cautious after the government’s outlook of slower growth in the Singapore economy due to uncertainties in the Euro Zone.
“Considering the projects that may be launched in Q4, it is unlikely that we will see the same level of take-up as Q2 and Q3 even with prices remaining stable. While we expect the total new home sales volume in 2011 to exceed 15,000 units, it remains to be seen whether it can surpass the record volume of 16,292 units sold in 2010,” Li said.
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