Singapore Property Prices Rose Marginally in Third Quarter — Update
By Fabiana Negrin Ochoa
Singapore property prices rose slightly in the third quarter but there were signs that the market has peaked.
For private residential property, prices rose marginally as sales transaction volumes slid sharply, according to flash estimates from the country's urban planning authority.
The index of private residential property prices for the third quarter rose 0.5% compared with the previous quarter, the Urban Redevelopment Authority said in a statement Monday. In the second quarter, the index slipped 0.2%.
"The increase was significantly lower than the average quarterly increase of 2.1% in 2022," the authority said.
Prices of nonlanded properties increased 2.1% in the third quarter after a 0.6% drop in the prior quarter. The URA said that was due to resilient demand from local owner-occupiers supporting higher prices in certain regions, though this was partly offset by declines in the core central area.
Landed property prices fell 4.9% during the quarter, swinging from a 1.1% rise in the preceding quarter, the data showed.
Sale transaction volumes slid about 15% on a quarterly basis and by about 26% from the previous year, the URA said.
The price data suggest the market has peaked, Tan Tee Khoon, Singapore country manager for real-estate group PropertyGuru, said in emailed comments.
Signs of waning demand were written on the wall, Tan said, noting continued uncertainty about rising interest rates and property-cooling measures that have boosted property acquisition costs. The pool of new-home seekers has also shrunk in the wake of major condo launches in the second quarter, he added.
Private residential property prices will likely continue to moderate, he said.
In a separate release, the Housing & Development Board said resale prices for public housing rose 1.2% in the third quarter. The HDB resale price index flash estimate was below both the 1.5% growth registered in the second quarter and the average quarterly growth of 2.5% seen in 2022, Singapore's public housing authority said.
Resale volumes climbed 2.9% sequentially in the third quarter but were 9.7% lower than in the same period last year, the data showed. The result marked the lowest volume of resales for the third quarter since 2020.
The board also said it remains on track to launch 23,000 flats in 2023, aiming to offer about 6,800 build-to-order flats in early October and about 6,000 flats in the final sales exercise of the year in December.
The URA compiles its flash estimates using transaction prices given in contracts submitted for stamp-duty payment and figures on units sold by developers. It will update the third-quarter statistics Oct. 27.
Write to Fabiana Negrin Ochoa at fabiana.negrinochoa@wsj.com
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October 02, 2023 01:47 ET (05:47 GMT)
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