Private Home Prices Up 8.3% In Q3, Rentals Up 11.4%

Source : The Straits Times, Oct 26, 2007

PRIVATE home prices in Singapore climbed 8.3 per cent between July and September to their highest level in a decade.











SINGAPORE private home prices rose 8.3 per cent between July and September to their highest level in a decade.

This follows a 13.5 per cent jump in the first half of this year. From the end of last year to the end of the third quarter of this year, the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) said private home prices have jumped 22.9 per cent.

Private home rentals have jumped even higher - up 11.4 per cent in the third quarter, and hitting 32.2 per cent since the end of 2006.

Office prices have also climbed 8.1 per cent from July to September, with office rentals up 14.8 per cent.

But the URA also has this assurance.

'While demand for properties has generally increased, more supply is in the pipeline,' it said in a statement.

For example, some 65,400 new private homes are now being built or have been given approval to be built - a 16.4 per cent jump in supply compared with the situation during the second quarter of the year.

1.4 million square metres of extra office space can also be 'potentially realised', with 0.61 square metres expected to be ready between the fourth quarter of this year and 2010.

Private homes: landed, non-landed

The URA said prices of non-landed properties, meaning condominiums and apartments, rose 8.3 per cent in the third quarter, compared with 8.4 per cent in the second quarter.

This was led by properties in the Core Central Region - comprising Districts 9, 10 and 11 plus the downtown and Sentosa areas - which rose 8.3 per cent. Prices elsewhere rose 7.9 per cent.

As for landed homes, these rose 7.5 per cent, up from the 7.1 per cent growth in the previous quarter.

Prrices of terrace houses jumped 8.1 per cent, while those for detached homes rose 7.7 per cent.

Semi-detached house prices, in the meantime, were up 6.2 per cent.

Private homes: rentals

Private home rentals which went up 11.4 per cent overall, also jumped higher than the second quarter's 10.4 per cent increase.

Rentals of condominiums and apartments in the Core Central Region rose 12.2 per cent, the highest throughout Singapore.

Rentals in the rest of the Central Region went up 11.9 per cent, while those outside the central areas climbed 11.8 per cent.