Private home prices, rents fell more steeply in Q3 than Q2

PRICES and rents of private residential properties fell more steeply in the third quarter by 1.5 per cent in the third quarter and 1.2 per cent respectively from a quarter ago, latest data from the Urban Redevelopment Authority shows.

The price and rental declines were 0.4 per cent and 0.6 per cent respectively in the second quarter.

This culminated in close to 11 per cent of both price and rental decline from the peak of Q3 2013.

The price decline in private homes was led by landed properties, which fell 2.7 per cent during the quarter after a 1.5 per cent decline in the previous quarter.

Non-landed properties saw a 1.2 per cent price decline in the third quarter after a 0.1 per cent dip in the preceding quarter.

Those in the prime area or the Core Central Region (CCR) fell the most in prices by 1.9 per cent, followed by those in the Rest of Central Region (RCR) and Outside Central Region (OCR), which both slipped by one per cent.

Developers launched 1,609 uncompleted private residential units (excluding executive condominiums or ECs) for sale in the third quarter, down from 2,371 units in the previous quarter. They sold 1,981 private residential units (excluding ECs), down from 2,256 units sold in the second quarter.

Another 862 EC units were launched for sale during the quarter and 1,398 EC units were sold over the same period, compared to the 1,260 EC units launched and 1,105 units sold in the second quarter.

Resales accounted for more than half of all transactions (53.9 per cent) in the third quarter, up from 47 per cent in the previous quarter, URA said. There were 2,477 resale transactions during the quarter, up from 2,140 units in the previous quarter.

Including the supply of 11,054 EC units in the pipeline, there were a total of 54,747 units in the supply pipeline. In total, 25,211 units (including ECs) remained unsold.