Flash estimates released yesterday by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) may be an indication that private home prices are now stabilising.
According to Chia Siew Chuin, Director of Research & Advisory at Colliers International, the marginal decline of 0.1 percent in overall private property prices “should give comfort that recent Government property cooling measures, as well as the ramped up state land supply have worked to contain price growth.”
She added that the quiet resale market has helped pull down prices, although “the very active primary market in the mass-market segment had mitigated the fall.”
Li Hiaw Ho, Executive Director at CBRE Research, noted that “the dip could be attributed to softer prices in the resale market, lower quantum of small-format homes sold and the more generous discounts / rebates that developers are giving to move sales as a result of the property measures.”
Moving forward, analysts expect private home prices to ease marginally, particularly in the Core Central Region (CCR) and the Rest of Central Region (RCR). However, those in the OCR “will remain firm, aided by healthy take-up of mass-market projects,” said Li.
Alan Cheong, Director, Research & Consultancy at Savills Research, commented that they “would probably have to wait one more quarter i.e. Q2 2012, to come to any objective conclusion as to whether Q1 2012 represented the point of inflexion for CCR and RCR prices.”
“Nevertheless, from an intuitive perspective, the price declines for CCR and RCR were definitely within expectations,” he noted.
Meanwhile, the HDB flash estimates for resale prices were not surprising. “According to PropNex data, the median Cash-Over-Valuations (COVs) are showing a declining trend to an overall S$25,000 since January 2012, a reduction of S$7,000 from Q4 2012,” said Mohamed Ismail, CEO of PropNex.
“In the private property market, we are now seeing a higher percentage of home purchases made by genuine homeowners or investors with a mid- to long-term view, as reflected in a modest 1.2 percent increase in the prices in OCR and the transaction volume in this region (according to PropNex data).”
Related Stories:
Bartley Grove Apartment, terrace houses sold for S$74.1m
Punggol EC site awarded to Qingjian Realty
Private home prices drop, HDB resale prices increase