PRIVATE HOME PRICES RISE IN Q3

PRIVATE HOME PRICES RISE IN Q3
Oct 2, 2012
     
Private home prices in Singapore continue to climb, with the Urban Redevelopment Authority’s (URA) flash estimates for the residential price index reflecting a 0.5 percent increase quarter-on-quarter in Q3 2012 to another record high of 208.0.

The Core Central (CCR), Rest of Central (RCR) and Outside Central (OCR) regions recorded incremental increases of 0.2 percent, 0.7 percent and 1.0 percent respectively.

Despite the increase, experts feel that private home prices are heading for moderation.

“Prices in the OCR are leading the price growth with sustained demand from HDB upgraders and investors,” said Mohamed Ismail, CEO of PropNex Realty. He added that the RCR is fast becoming more appealing to home buyers and investors, with the narrowing price gap of properties in the OCR and RCR.

According to Alan Cheong, Director, Research and Consultancy at Savills Singapore, the 0.5 percent quarter-on-quarter increase in the price index was “within expectations”.

He explained that they used two models in their forecast — the first being a quantitative model which predicted a marginal 0.02 percent decline in the index while the second was a survey opinion model which forecast a one percent rise.

“Therefore on balance, the 0.5 percent increase is within expectations,” he noted.

Moving forward, Cheong expects prices to rise one percent quarter-on-quarter in Q4.

Ismail believes that with more housing supply in the pipeline, prices will moderate further, resulting in an overall one to two percent growth in the price index for the whole of 2012.

Info courtesy - PropertyGuru.com.sg