Prime-area private condos see resale prices rise 2.8% in September

Singapore

RESALE prices of non-landed private homes in Singapore's Core Central Region (CCR) rose 2.8 per cent in September over August, based on the flash estimate from SRX Property on Tuesday.

This contrasts with a 0.9 per cent month-on-month drop in August, based on the revised index values for that month.

However, prices fell last month in the city-fringe or Rest of Central Region (RCR) as well as in the suburbs or the Outside Central Region (OCR) to the tune of 1.4 per cent and 0.9 per cent, respectively.

Year-on-year, prices in CCR have retreated 2.6 per cent. OCR prices have also shed 1.6 per cent; however prices in RCR are up 2 per cent.

From their respective peaks in October, August and June 2013, CCR, RCR and OCR prices are down 9.3 per cent, 4.8 per cent and 8.3 per cent.

SRX's overall resale price index for non-landed private homes dipped 0.1 per cent month-on-month in September. SRX revised the price change for August to a 0.1 per cent gain from a 0.2 per cent gain previously when it released the flash estimate for August.

Compared to a year ago, the overall index eased 1.2 per cent in September 2015. From the recent peak in January 2014, the drop is 6.7 per cent.

According to data compiled by SRX Property, the resale volume of non-landed private homes slipped 10.6 per cent to 446 units in September from 499 units in August.

Year-on-year, the resale volume in September 2015 was 4.7 per cent lower compared with 468 units resold in September 2014. Resale volume is down 78.2 per cent from its peak of 2,050 units back in April 2010.

The overall median transaction over X-value (TOX) posted a positive S$1,000 for September, after remaining at zero for the preceding five months.

The median TOX measures how much people are overpaying or underpaying against the computer-generated estimated value or the so-called X-value.

ERA Realty key executive officer Eugene Lim said the price pick-up in CCR in September could be due to resale CCR properties finding some buyer support due to there being no new launches within the CCR.

OrangeTee.com's senior manager Wong Xian Yang suggested that the rise in CCR resale prices "may not be sustainable given the headwinds facing the property market . . . and the high number of incoming completions in CCR will continue to be a drag on prices".

Year to date, SRX Property's overall resale price index for non-landed private homes has dipped 0.81 per cent.

R'ST Research director Ong Kah Seng says the SRX overall resale non-landed private home price data points to increased stability in the prices of completed properties. He sees a flattish price trend for the second half of this year that is likely to persist into H1 2016.

ERA's Mr Lim said that the SRX data showing the drop in transactions in September is due mainly to fewer deals in OCR, where the transaction volume fell 27.3 per cent from August "This could be due to stiffer competition from ECs (executive condos) given the recent rise in income ceiling." ECs are a public-private hybrid housing type with initial buyer eligibility and resale conditions that are completely lifted 10 years after an EC project has been completed.

Mr Lim noted that several private condos and EC projects are due to be launched before the year end - including Thomson Impressions in Lorong Puntong and Principal Garden in the Princes Charles Crescent area in October, The Andrew Residences in Potong Pasir in November (all three are private condo projects) and Wandervale, an EC project in Choa Chu Kang, in December. "Hence we might see the resale market facing stiff competition from new launches," said Mr Lim.

"Nonetheless, we expect resale volume of non-landed private homes (excluding ECs) to hit about 6,000 units for the entire 2015. In the first nine months, the figure was 4,457 units, while that for the whole of last year was 4,669 units, according to SRX," he added.