Singapore’s Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) released on 1 October its flash estimates of the 3rd Quarter 2018 private residential property price index. The increase of 0.5% in the overall private residential property index shows that the market is resilient and that there is sufficient appetite from serious buyers who are likely to be first time buyers or PRs less affected by the cooling measures. This is in line with the original intent of the measures, which was to achieve a more gradual, but sustainable, price appreciation in the longer term. For non-landed private residential properties, prices in the Core Central Region (CCR) had a better than expected showing, while prices in Outside of Central Region (OCR) registered a smaller increase than the previous quarter. The greatest impact was seen in the Rest of Central Region (RCR), where prices fell by 0.8%, a large contrast to the increase of 5.6% in the previous quarter. The price fall was due to the relatively lower price points of new projects launched in Q3. Moving ahead, we expect demand to recover slowly and, with the looming supply in the near future, it will still be a buyers’ market out there. In terms of prices, it would seem that price appreciation will be at a slower pace. Homeowners should take heart that the market is stable and that any price increase will be in tandem with the economic growth.
Photo credit: The Business Times