Private property prices in Singapore fell by 4.0 percent in 2014 compared to an increase of 1.1 percent in 2013, according to more complete data released by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) on Friday.
This is the first year of overall price decline since 2008 for the private housing market, which has been subject to stringent cooling measures like the Additional Buyer’s Stamp Duty (ABSD) and Total Debt Servicing Ratio (TDSR) to ease skyrocketing prices.
Property Price Index of residential properties
Private home prices slid by 1.1 percent in Q4, higher than the 0.7 percent drop in the quarter before, corresponding to a fifth straight quarter of price declines.
Prices fell across all segments of the market. In the Core Central Region (CCR), non-landed property prices decreased by 0.9 percent, more than the 0.8 percent decline in the previous quarter. Over in the Rest of Central Region (RCR), prices dropped by 1.4 percent, significantly more than the 0.4 percent dip in Q3. As for the Outside Central Region (OCR), prices sank by 0.8 percent, significantly more than the 0.3 percent fall in the previous quarter. For the whole of 2014, prices in the CCR, RCR and OCR fell by 4.1 percent, 5.3 percent and 2.2 percent respectively.
In Q4, prices of landed properties declined by 1.3 percent compared to a decrease of 1.8 percent in the previous three-month period. For the whole of 2014, prices of landed properties fell by 5.3 percent.
Developers launched 1,592 uncompleted private units for sale excluding executive condominiums (ECs) in the quarter, higher than the 1,294 units in Q3. For the whole year, developers launched 7,693 units, significantly lower than the 15,885 units released in 2013.
Developers sold 1,376 units (excluding ECs) in Q4, lower than the 1,531 units in Q3. For the entire year, 7,316 units were sold, significantly lower than the 14,948 units in 2013.
Number of private housing units launched and sold by developers (excluding ECs)
As for ECs, developers launched a total of 2,505 units in 2014, all in the fourth quarter, managing to sell 1,578 units. In Q4 alone, 1,113 EC units found buyers, significantly more than the 162 units in Q3.
Over in the secondary market, there were 1,151 resale transactions in the quarter, lower than the 1,377 transactions in Q3. For the whole of 2014, 4,860 resale units were sold, significantly lower than the 6,671 units transacted a year earlier.
Romesh Navaratnarajah, Singapore Editor at PropertyGuru, wrote this story. To contact him about this or other stories email romesh@propertyguru.com.sg
