Latest data from the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA)
shows that private home prices declined marginally by 0.1 percent in Q1 2012
compared to the 0.2 percent rise seen in the last three months of 2011.
This marks the first quarterly decline since Q2 2009 when
prices fell continuously for nine consecutive quarters.
In the Core Central Region (CCR )
and Rest of Central Region (RCR), non-landed home prices slipped by 0.6
percent, a notable contrast to the 0.5 and 0.1 percent rise seen in the
previous quarter.
But the Outside Central Region (OCR )
saw prices climb 1.1 percent, a little higher than the 0.6 percent hike in Q4
2011.
In terms of rentals, private residential properties recorded
a weaker 0.3 percent growth compared to the previous quarter’s 0.4 percent
rise.
Meanwhile, developers launched a total of 6,903 uncompleted
private residential units in Q1 2012, up from the 4,105 last quarter, while
units sold totalled 6,458 compared to the 3,525 homes sold in the previous
quarter.
In addition, the URA noted that “take-up of shoe-box units
(i.e. smaller than 50 sq m) accounted for 27 percent (or 1,764 units) of new
sales in the quarter. Lower-priced units less than S$750,000 accounted for 42
percent (or 2,766 units) of new sales in Q1 2012, much higher than the 25
percent (or 911 units) seen last quarter.”
“Overall, many of these units are located in the suburbs, as
82 percent of the new units sold by developers were from OCR ,”
it added.
At the same time, resale transaction volumes declined to 1,906
units in Q1 2012, the lowest since Q1 2009 and shared just 21.8 percent of
overall sales – a historic low since 1999 when such data was first collected.
Info courtesy -
PropertyGuru.com.sg
