SINGAPORE: Data released by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) on Friday (Oct 27) shows that home prices have increased again in Singapore for the third quarter of this year. Private housing prices and residential property rentals are up by 0.8 per cent.
Bloomberg called the increase a rebound in a “Property Boom That Won’t Quit,” adding that Singapore’s red-hot property market boom over the past years is in contrast to the downturns witnessed by other major cities, including rival Hong Kong, where housing taxes were cut this week to uplift the city’s property sector.
The third quarter’s price uptick follows the previous quarter’s 0.2 per cent decrease. The URA also noted, however, that 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.
The URA added that the 0.8 per cent in private residential property rentals came slower than the 2.8 per cent increase in the second quarter. It also noted a moderation in rental increases for the fourth consecutive quarter. It added that the third quarter increase is the smallest quarter-on-quarter gain since the fourth quarter of 2020.
Notably, around 9,000 private residential units, including executive condominiums, were completed last quarter, the most since the second quarter of 2016. The URA added it expects 20,400 private residential units to be completed this year, the most since 2017.
On Friday (Oct 27), the Housing and Development Board (HDB) also published information concerning the upcoming flat supply and the HDB resale and rental markets for the year’s third quarter.
HDB has launched around 16,700 units this year and is on track to launch 23,000 flats. In two months, 6,000 Build-To-Order (BTO) flats will be on offer from the HDB in Bukit Panjang, Jurong West, Woodlands, Bedok, Bishan, Bukit Merah and Queenstown. More details concerning these flats will be announced as the launch date approaches.
HDB’s Resale Price Index (RPI) for the third quarter of the year saw a 1.3 per cent increase over the second quarter. This is lower than the 1.5 per cent growth in the second quarter and lower than the average quarterly growth of 2.5 per cent in 2022.
Regarding the resale market, HDB wrote: “We are seeing some moderation in the rate of increase in resale prices since the Government’s implementation of a strong pipeline of supply, as well as the cooling measures to promote a stable and sustainable property market. These include the measures to moderate demand in the HDB resale market and encourage prudent borrowing, such as a wait-out period of 15 months before private property owners1 are allowed to purchase a non-subsidised HDB resale flat, as well as the lowering of the Loan-to-Value (LTV) limit for HDB housing loans from 90 per cent to 85 per cent, and further to 80 per cent.” /TISG
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