Private property prices fell 1.0 percent in the first quarter of 2015 from the previous three-month period, according to more complete data published by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA). Flash estimates at the start of April revealed a slightly bigger drop of 1.1 percent.
Still, this represents the sixth straight quarter of price decline for the private residential market which has been severely impacted by several rounds of cooling measures.
In Q4 2014, prices of private units fell 1.1 percent. For the whole of 2014, prices dropped 4.0 percent.
Price declines were seen across all segments of the private residential market. Non-landed property prices in the city area (Core Central Region) slipped 0.4 percent, less than the 0.9 percent drop in the previous quarter.
The city fringe (Rest of Central Region) recorded a 1.7 percent price decline, more than the 1.3 percent fall in the previous quarter.
The suburbs (Outside Central Region) registered a decline of 1.1 percent, bigger than the 0.8 percent dip in the previous quarter.
Prices of landed properties fell 0.9 percent, less than the 1.3 percent decline in the quarter before.
Source: URA
URA used a revised methodology to calculate the price index this time, adopting the stratified hedonic regression method which can better control for different property variations such as age and unit size; switching from 12-quarter moving average weights to 5-quarter fixed weights; and adopting a new base period of Q1 2009.
For more details on the changes to the index, go to: http://bit.ly/1GJZnAt
Romesh Navaratnarajah, Singapore Editor at PropertyGuru, wrote this story. To contact him about this or other stories email romesh@propertyguru.com.sg
