Singapore's private home prices fall 1% in Q4 2014 and 4% in full year: URA flash estimates

PRIVATE home prices fell one per cent in the fourth quarter of 2014 over the previous quarter, higher than the 0.7 per cent decline in Q3 2014, based on the Urban Redevelopment Authority's (URA) flash estimates released on Friday.

This marks the fifth consecutive quarter-on-quarter drop in URA's widely watched private home price index.

For the whole of last year, the index eased 4 per cent - contrasting with a 1.1 per cent rise in 2013.

URA said prices of non-landed private homes fell in all three geographical segments in Q4. In Core Central Region (CCR), prices fell 0.9 per cent in Q4 2014, higher than the 0.8 per cent drop in the previous quarter. CCR covers the Downtown Core planning area, Sentosa and the traditional districts 9, 10 and 11.

In the city-fringe, or Rest of Central Region (RCR), prices eased 1.2 per cent, higher than the 0.4 per cent decline in the previous quarter.

In suburban locations, or the Outside Central Region (OCR), prices declined 0.9 per cent, higher than the 0.3 per cent fall in the previous quarter.

For the whole of 2014, prices in CCR, RCR and OCR have fallen by 4.1 per cent, 5.2 per cent and 2.2 per cent respectively

Prices of landed properties shed 1.1 per cent in Q4, a smaller drop compared with the 1.8 per cent decline in the previous quarter.

For the whole of 2014, prices of landed properties fell by 5.2 per cent.