A SLEW of new launches to come into a softening market will keep Singapore’s private home prices in check, although talk of interest rate cuts has sparked some optimism for the second half of the year.

And where residential prices have risen the fastest in the last few years, in suburban Outside Central Region (OCR) locations, househunters will be watching if prices might ease.

“The current price levels (in the OCR) are nearing the affordability limit for most property seekers,” said Lee Nai Jia, head of real estate intelligence, data and software solutions at PropertyGuru.