Singapore condo resale prices slip for 3rd month with 0.4% drop in October: SRX

RESALE prices of private non-landed homes in Singapore declined for the third straight month in October after the latest round of property cooling measures, flash estimates by real estate portal SRX Property on Tuesday showed.

Condominiums and private apartment resale prices weakened by 0.4 per cent last month from September. This follows the 0.5 per cent drop in September, a figure revised up from an earlier estimated decline of 0.2 per cent. Resale prices also dipped 0.2 per cent in August.

Before August, resale prices had an unbroken 12-month run to new highs. Now, year on year, they are still up by 8.7 per cent from October 2017 but have fallen 1.0 per cent in the last three months since hitting their peak in July when the additional property curbs were announced.

Buying activity in the resale market remained lacklustre. While the 703 units that were resold in October was 3.7 per cent more than the 678 units for September, resale volume compared to a year ago was 53 per cent lower than the 1,497 units moved in October 2017.

Orange Tee & Tie's head of research and consultancy Christine Sun said the resale market "seemed to be at a standstill as the gap in expectations between buyers and sellers continues to widen. Many sellers seemed to be holding firm to their asking prices while buyers may be anticipating prices to moderate after the recent cooling measures.

"As the market continues to figure out where prices would be heading during this time of uncertainty, homes placed on the market may take slightly longer to be sold. Sales activities and property viewings may also slow down significantly during the year-end holiday season. The resale market may pick up again after the holidays."

SRX data also showed that the premium that buyers were prepared to pay over market value continued to inch up in October after tumbling following the July property curbs.

SRX's overall median transaction over X-value (TOX) rose to S$4,000 last month, up from S$1,000 in September and zero in August. The TOX had sunk to S$4,000 in July from S$17,000 in June.

TOX measures how much a buyer is overpaying or underpaying on a property based on SRX Property's computer-generated market value.

District 4's Telok Blangah and Harbourfront posted the highest median TOX of S$50,000, followed by District 28's Seletar with S$44,000, among districts with more than 10 resale transactions.

District 12's Balestier, Toa Payoh and Serangoon posted the lowest median TOX of negative S$49,000, followed by District 20's Bishan and Ang Mo Kio at negative S$20,000.