Singapore private-home prices down 0.7%, rentals fall 1.3% in Q1

PRICES of private residential properties in Singapore decreased by 0.7 per cent quarter on quarter in the first quarter of 2016, after easing 0.5 per cent in Q4 last year, the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) said in a release on Friday morning.

A price decline of 1.3 per cent was observed for non-landed private homes in the suburbs or Outside Central Region (OCR), where prices had previously remained unchanged. Prices of non-landed properties in the city-fringe or Rest of Central Region (RCR) remained unchanged, compared to the 0.4 per cent fall previously. In Core Central Region (CCR), prices rose 0.3 per cent, contrasting with the 0.3 per cent decline previously.

Prices of landed properties declined by 1.1 per cent, compared to the 1.8 per cent decline in the previous quarter.

Rentals of private residential properties shrank 1.3 per cent in Q1 2016, the same rate of decline as in the previous quarter, URA said.

The rental drop was seen across all segments of the private housing market. Rentals of non-landed properties fell 1.7 per cent in CCR, 0.6 per cent in RCR and 1.2 per cent in OCR, compared to the declines of 0.4 per cent, 1.6 per cent and 1.8 per cent respectively in the previous quarter

Rentals of landed properties shed 2.2 per cent, after sliding 2.3 per cent in the previous quarter.

The vacancy rate of completed private residential units (excluding executive condominiums or ECs) decreased to 7.5 per cent at the end of Q1 2016, from 8.1 per cent at the end of the previous quarter.

URA also said that developers sold 1,419 private homes (excluding ECs) in the first three months of this year, less than the 1,603 units sold in the previous quarter.

There were 1,340 resale transactions in Q1 2016, also less than the 1,464 units transacted in the previous quarter.

As at the end Q1 2016, the total supply of uncompleted private homes (excluding ECs) in the pipeline stood at 53,512 units - down from 55,638 units in the previous quarter. Of this number, 22,370 units remained unsold as at Q1 2016.

Based on the expected completion dates reported by developers, 23,062 units (including ECs) will be completed in the remaining three quarters of 2016. Another 15,643 units (including ECs) will be completed in 2017. In comparison, 22,267 units (including ECs) were completed last year.