Continuing its decline for the 15th quarter since 2013, the Urban Redevelopment Authority’s (URA) overall private residential property index fell 0.4 points from 136.7 points in Q1 of 2017 to 136.3 points in Q2 of the same year, its smallest decline since the introduction of cooling measures at 0.3 percent.
Source: URA
Based on transaction prices provided in contracts submitted for stamp duty payment and data on units sold by developers, URA’s flash estimates indicate that prices decreased by 0.9 percent and 0.4 percent in the Core Central Region (CCR) and Outside Central Region (OCR) respectively.
“Q2 2017’s flash estimates indicate that the real estate market is close to the trough of this current property cycle, with the smallest decline per quarter of 0.3 percent in 15 quarters,” said Hari Krishnan, CEO of PropertyGuru Group.
Krishnan also noted, “While non-landed property prices in the Core Central Region declined the sharpest at 0.9 percent compared to the other two regions*, PropertyGuru’s platforms** continue to register strong interest in Districts 9, 10 and 11. These districts remain the most searched areas by consumers on our platforms in the second quarter of this year, unchanged from Q1 2017.”
Source: URA
Meanwhile, prices of landed residential properties fell by 0.4 percent as compared to the 1.8 percent decrease in the previous quarter.
CEO of PropNex Realty, Ismail Gafoor commented, “With the lowest dip in the last 15 quarters, this is a clear sign that the private property market is consolidating, with strong volume of transactions witnessed thus far this year. With aggressive land bids and the positive sentiment we expect prices to grow positively by next year.”
“We can also expect more buyers and investors who were at the sidelines to enter the market, taking advantage of the lower prices of properties today.” Gafoor also highlighted that he is confident that overall prices in 2017 will drop by marginal 2 percent as compared to -3.1 percent in 2016.
Prices of non-landed private residential properties in the Rest of Central Region (RCR) increased by 0.5 percent.
Dr Lee Nai Jia, Head of Research at Edmund Tie & Company noted that: “Prices were likely to be boosted by the successful launch of [Paya Lebar Quarter] and the Stirling road land bids. We anticipate home prices in the RCR to maintain its momentum, supported by the expected bidding for sites in the area, such as the land parcel at Holland Road.”
URA will release their full real estate statistics for Q2 2017 on 28 July.
* Rest of Central Region and Outside Central Region
** Web and mobile apps
This article was edited by Denise Djong.
