SINGAPORE: After real estate data for the third quarter of this year was released by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) and the Housing and Development Board (HDB) on Friday (Oct 27), top property marketplace PropertyGuru commented on the statistics, explaining why housing prices rose again and offering predictions for the coming year.
PropertyGuru noted that this year will likely be a record-breaking one for one million dollars and above transactions. HDB’s resale flat transaction data shows that so far, there have been 369 million-dollar HDB flat transactions, with 128 in the third quarter, and a record 54 in August alone. Last year, there were a total of 369 million-dollar flat transactions.
“As the year wraps, we could continue seeing more million-dollar flats transactions, especially in non-mature estates. In late September, a 1,367 sq ft Bukit Panjang flat transacted at $1.02 million, making it the first seven-figure transaction for the area. Nonetheless, million-dollar flats continue to make up a small percentage of overall transactions, transacting at a similar pace to previous quarters,” notes Dr Tan Tee Khoon, PropertyGuru’s Country Manager for Singapore.
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Data from URA shows that home prices have gone up again in Singapore for the third quarter of this year. Private housing prices and residential property rentals are up by 0.8 per cent. The uptick in prices for private housing follows the previous quarter’s 0.2 per cent decrease. However, the average quarterly price increase of about 0.3 per cent over the last two quarters is significantly less than 2022’s average quarterly increase of 2.1 per cent. Also, the increase in private residential property rentals came slower than the 2.8 per cent increase in the second quarter.
“The steady price growth moderation suggests the market has peaked; as such, private property prices could possibly oscillate between slight increases and decreases in coming quarters,” noted Dr Tan.
He added that home prices went up in the third quarter because this year’s largest new major condominium launch, Grand Dunman, has done well, moving nearly 55 per cent of its units (550 out of 1,008 units) at an average price of S$2,500 price per sq ft (PSF). Prices went up the most in the Outside Central Region (OCR), as there were four launches this quarter, compared to only one in the second quarter. /TISG
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