camila April 1, 2021

SINGAPORE – Private home prices in Singapore rose for a fourth straight quarter, jumping 2.9 per cent in the first three months of this year, raising bets on a fresh round of cooling measures.

This is the steepest quarterly increase since the second quarter of 2018 when private residential prices rose by 3.4 per cent before property curbs hit in July that year.

It follows an increase of 2.1 per cent in the fourth quarter last year and 0.8 per cent in the third quarter, according to the Urban Redevelopment Authority’s (URA) flash estimate released on Thursday morning (April 1).

Year on year, prices have jumped 6.2 per cent. 

Precipitating the July 2018 round of cooling measures were four consecutive quarters of price increases totalling 9.1 per cent, as well as higher than expected Government Land Sales (GLS) bids and record-high collective sale bids.

A persistently strong increase in private home prices over the next few quarters will raise the prospect of more cooling measures being rolled out, analysts said.

Other factors that may be considered include whether housing price increases are outpacing the economic recovery, and whether they are occuring across the board or remain localised in certain areas.

URA’s latest data showed prices of non-landed properties rose 2.1 per cent in the first quarter after edging up 3 per cent in the prior quarter.

Meanwhile, the prices of landed properties climbed 5.6 per cent in the first quarter, reversing from a 1.6 per cent fall in the previous quarter.

The price increase in the first quarter was driven mainly by pricier non-landed homes in the city fringe, or Rest of Central Region (RCR), which jumped 6.1 per cent quarter on quarter, compared to 4.4 per cent in the previous three months, OrangeTee & Tie’s senior vice-president of research & analytics Christine Sun said.

For instance, The Reef at King’s Dock ($2,257 per square foot, 337 units), Amber Park ($2,445 psf, 66 units), Avenue South Residence ($2,099 psf, 43 units) and One Pearl Bank ($2,407 psf, 34 units) were transacted above $2,000 psf. 

Normanton Park, which registered the highest transaction of 720 units last quarter, changed hands at a median price of $1,765 psf. This is higher than the $1,704 psf median price for non-landed homes in RCR in fourth quarter 2020.

Prices of non-landed homes in the city fringe and the suburbs reached their record highs last quarter, Ms Sun added. In the suburbs or outside central region (OCR), prices were up 0.9 per cent, after a 1.8 per cent increase in the previous quarter.

In contrast, prices in the core central region (CCR), or prime areas, dipped 0.3 per cent in Q4, reversing from a 3.2 per cent increase in the fourth quarter.

According to URA realis data downloaded on Thursday, 43.1 per cent of non-landed private home sales in the first quarter came from 2,527 units in the city fringe, while 20 per cent were luxury homes in CCR and 36.9 per cent were mass-market homes in the suburbs.

The flash estimates are compiled based on transaction prices given in contracts submitted for stamp duty payment, and data on units sold by developers up till mid-December. The statistics will be updated on April 23 when the URA releases its full set of real estate statistics for the first quarter.