Singapore’s private home prices fall for the first time in 6 quarters

Private home prices in Singapore fell by 0.1% for the fourth quarter of last year, the first decline since the second quarter of 2017, government data revealed on Friday.

The fall in prices for the last three months of 2018 was in line with the earlier flash estimate. But it was a reverse from the 0.5% increase in prices in the previous quarter, the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) said.

For the whole of last year, private home prices gained 7.9%, accelerating from the 1.1% increase in 2017.

Prices of landed properties fell by 2.0%, non-landed property prices up by 0.5% for Q4

Prices of landed properties fell by 2.0% in the fourth quarter, reversing from the 2.3% price increase in the third quarter. For the full year of 2018, prices of landed properties rose by 6.3%.

Non-landed property prices edged up slightly with a 0.5% increase in the fourth quarter, after no price change in the previous quarter. For last year, prices of non-landed properties were up by 8.3%.

Prices of non-landed properties in the core central region (CCR) or city centre fell by 1.0%, compared to a 1.3% price increase in the previous quarter.

Meanwhile, prices of non-landed properties in the rest or central region (RCR) or city fringes registered a price increase of 1.8% for the same period, compared with a 1.3% price fall in the preceding quarter. Prices of the same type of properties in the outside central region (OCR) or suburbs were up by 0.7% for the fourth quarter, reversing from a 0.1% fall in the previous quarter.

A total of 8,795 units were sold in 2018, Q4 registered a total of 1,836 units sold

For the fourth quarter, developers launched a total of 1,657 uncompleted private residential units, excluding executive condominiums, for sale. The amount was lesser than the 3,754 units launched in the previous quarter.

For the same period, a total of 1,836 units, excluding executive condominiums, were sold, compared with the 3,012 units sold in the previous quarter.

For the whole of 2018, a total of 8,769 uncompleted private residential units were launched, higher than the 6,020 units launched in 2017.

Developers sold a total of 8,795 units in 2018, a step down from the 10,566 units sold in the previous year.

As at the end of the fourth quarter, there is a total supply of 51,498 uncompleted private residential units, excluding executive condominiums, in the pipeline. Still, according to URA figures, 34,824 units remain unsold.