Singapore private home prices moderate to 0.5% growth in Q3 after cooling measures

PRIVATE residential prices in Singapore grew by 0.5 per cent in the third quarter, as growth slowed in the wake of the recent property cooling measures which kicked in from July.

The 0.5 per cent figure - which was in line with earlier flash estimates - comes after an increase of 3.4 per cent in the previous quarter, according to the latest report from the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA).

Prices of landed properties rose by 2.3 per cent in Q3, easing from 4.1 per cent growth in Q2, while prices of non-landed properties remained unchanged. In comparison, non-landed properties chalked up a 3.2 per cent increase in price in the previous quarter.

By location, prices of non-landed properties in the core central region (CCR) rose by 1.3 per cent, up from a 0.9 per cent increase in the previous quarter. Meanwhile, prices of non-landed properties in the rest of the central region (RCR) fell by 1.3 per cent, versus an increase of 5.6 per cent in the previous quarter. Outside the central region (OCR), prices dipped 0.1 per cent, reversing from the 3 per cent increase in the previous quarter.

Resales accounted for 46.3 per cent of all private homes sold in the third quarter. They numbered 2,672 units, down from 4,700 units in the second quarter. Developers sold 3,012 private residential units (excluding ECs), with 81 subsale units making up the balance.

The vacancy rate of completed private residential units (excluding ECs) decreased by 0.3 percentage point to 6.8 per cent at the end of Q3.

Rentals of private residential properties increased by 0.3 per cent, compared with 1 per cent in the previous quarter. Rentals of landed properties increased by 0.5 per cent, while rentals of non-landed properties edged up 0.3 per cent.

At the end of the quarter, there was a total supply of 50,330 uncompleted private residential units (excluding ECs) in the pipeline with planning approvals, compared to 45,003 units in the previous quarter. Of these, 30,467 units remained unsold at the end of Q3, up from 26,943 units in Q2.

After adding the supply of 2,834 EC units in the pipeline, there were 53,164 units in the pipeline with planning approvals. Of the EC units in the pipeline, 828 units remained unsold.

At the end of the quarter, there were 31,295 unsold units with planning approvals, up from 26,961 units as at the end of the second quarter.

There is a potential supply of 14,200 units (including ECs) from Government Land Sales sites and awarded en-bloc sites that have not been granted planning approvals yet. A large part of this new supply of 14,200 units could be made available for sale next year, and will be completed by 2022 onwards, the URA said.