Wednesday, January 2, 2008

S'pore Private Home Prices Up 31% In 2007 Despite Slower Q4 Gain

Source : The Straits Times, Jan 2, 2008

Resale prices of HDB flats also rise by 17.4% for the year, in tandem with robust economy

PRICES of Singapore's private homes rose by 31 per cent in 2007, while that for Housing Board resale flats went up by 17.4 per cent, as the property market rebounded after years of sluggish growth.
















But for the fourth quarter, prices of private residential property went up at a slower pace of 6.6 per cent compared with 8.3 per cent in the previous quarter, according to flash estimates of the price index for private residential property released by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) on Wednesday.

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Development Minister Mah Bow Tan said that while it is too early to speculate on how private residential prices would move in the coming months, the Government will still keep its eye on the market and put in place measures to keep prices stable.

Mr Mah was speaking to reporters after touring some newly converted rental flats in Woodlands.


Separate flash estimate released by Housing Board also on Wednesday showed that resale prices of HDB flats went up by 17.4 per cent for the year, in tandem with improved sentiments and economic growth.

The fourth quarter HDB's Resale Price Index rose to 121.6 points, an increase of 5.6 per cent over the previous three months.

The URA, which oversees land use planning, said the fourth quarter figures were based on preliminary data.

The flash estimates showed that the increase in prices of non-landed private residential properties was higher in the suburban regions than the central prime areas.

Strong economic performance and efforts to woo the cash of wealthy foreigners also helped to perk up the sector. -- PHOTO: PRESIDENT'S DESIGN AWARD

They went up by seven per cent in the Core Central Region, 7.3 per cent in the Rest of Central Region and 7.5 per cent in Outside Central Region in the last quarter.

In comparison with the third quarter, prices of non-landed private residential properties rose by 8.3 per cent in the core central region, and 7.9 per cent respectively in the other two regions.

The flash estimates are compiled based on transaction prices given in caveats lodged during the first 10 weeks of the quarter, supplemented by information on the number of new units sold.

The statistics will be updated four weeks later when URA releases the full fourth quarter 2007 real estate statistics, when more data on the caveats lodged and the take-up of new projects are captured.

On the supply side, the URA said there are about 65,400 private residential units in the pipeline, of which about 41,600 new private housing units are expected to be completed between 2008 and 2010.

About 38,000 units of the supply in the pipeline (or 58 per cent) have not been sold by developers yet. This does not take into account new sites that will be made available for development through the Government Land Sales (GLS) programme.

The HDB is also increasing the supply of new flats under the Build-to-order system and the release of Design, Build and Sell Scheme (DBSS).

Both the URA and HDB said they will continue to monitor the market situation and property prices closely.

Singapore's property sector saw record prices paid by developers for older condominium sites as they rushed to redevelop them into new units to meet robust demand during the year.

Data showed prices are within sight of peaks reached in 1996, before a regional financial crisis struck and sent the sector into the doldrums.

Singapore's property sector finally began to turn around after the government in 2005 gave approval for two multi-billion-dollar casino-entertainment complexes.

Strong economic performance and efforts to woo the cash of wealthy foreigners also helped to perk up the sector.

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