Completed shoebox units lead price falls this year

SO far this year, prices of small units have fared the worst of the four segments of completed non-landed private homes covered by the National University of Singapore's Singapore Residential Price Index (SRPI) series.

Flash estimates for November released on Monday show that the SRPI for completed small units of up to 506 sq ft islandwide has contracted 4.4 per cent since December 2013. The biggest month-on-month drop for this small unit subindex so far this year of 1.9 per cent was in November itself. However, as this is a flash value, it is subject to final revision next month.

SRPI's current basket, which was revised in December last year, has a total of 78,877 completed non-landed private homes islandwide, of which 3,092 units (3.9 per cent) are small units, that is, up to 506 sq ft (47 sq m). The basket comprises 429 private residential projects in Singapore that were completed between October 2003 and September 2013.