Prices of completed non-landed private homes are showing signs of stabilising after falling for five straight months, but downward pressures remain.
Their values rose 0.1 per cent in October over September, after rising 0.3 per cent in September, according to flash estimates out yesterday for the NUS Singapore Residential Price Index.
The modest rally stems from increasing buyer interest in resale properties over the past half year as developers cut back on launches.
There were 1,400 resale transactions of private non-landed homes in the third quarter with a total value of $2.66 billion, up from 1,153 valued at $1.91 billion a year back, noted SLP International executive director Nicholas Mak.
ERA Realty key executive officer Eugene Lim said the pick-up is partly reflected in the company's sales performance. "Last year, when the resale market was poor, the company's top achievers were mostly agents who focused on developer projects. This year, many of (the top performers) are agents who are more into resale properties."
The resale market is also seeing rising demand from owner-occupiers who may have immediate housing needs, he added.
"But in general, price quantum is still the key driving force; the sweet spot is below $1.5 million."
The slight uptick in October was supported by a 0.3 per cent rise in prices of completed non-landed homes in the central region - defined as districts 1 to 4 and 9 to 11. However, the prices had fallen 0.3 per cent in September.
Prices of units outside this zone were unchanged in October after rising 0.6 per cent in September.
Prices of small units of up to 506 sq ft fell 0.6 per cent in October, after falling 0.7 per cent in the preceding month.
"Values of small units are getting hammered as more of them are completed and some owners face challenges in renting them out," said SLP's Mr Mak.
Experts expect more slight month-to-month fluctuations in the SRPI but the general trend is still downwards, on the back of rising completions.
This article was first published on Dec 1, 2015.
Wednesday, Dec 02, 2015
The Straits Times
Source: AsiaOne