Hedging against economic uncertainties

AMID uncertain economic conditions arising from global tensions, the prices of private residential properties in Singapore have remained resilient. Based on the Urban Redevelopment Authority's latest residential flash estimates, the overall property price index (PPI) for private residential homes increased 0.9 per cent quarter-on-quarter (q-o-q) to 152.5 points in Q3 2019. That made for a second consecutive q-o-q improvement in the prices of private homes.

The Core Central Region (CCR), comprising Districts 9, 10, 11, the Downtown Core Planning Area and Sentosa, saw the most significant price increase out of all market segments. The PPI of non-landed private residential homes in the CCR rose by 2.9 per cent to 139.2 points, higher than the 2.3 per cent increase in the previous quarter.

In tandem with an overall improvement in the prices of private residential properties, the sales volumes of non-landed private homes has also increased. Data from Realis indicates that the transaction volume of these residential properties increased for the second consecutive quarter as at Q3, though total sales volume was much lower on a year-on-year (y-o-y) basis due to the cooling measures implemented in July 2018.