Non-landed private home prices down 0.7%

Non-landed private home prices saw a 0.7 percent decline in October, after a 1.1 percent monthly increase in both August and September, according to the Singapore Residential Price Index (SRPI) of the National University of Singapore (NUS).

The decline was attributed to falling prices in the “non-central” and “central” locations, which saw a drop of 0.5 percent and 1.1 percent, respectively.

The overall SRPI rose 10.7 percent year-on-year, with non-central prices up 12.8 percent, and central prices up 8.1 percent.

The October flash estimate for the central region is now 3.6 percent below its pre-crisis peak in November 2007. For the non-central region, the newest index has exceeded its pre-crisis peak in January 2008 by 14.9 percent.

Thus, the overall SRPI flash estimate for last month is 7.6 percent higher than its November 2007 high.

Going forward, analysts expect mass market home prices to moderate further, considering the large supply of development sites being offered for sale.

“Most of the sites in the H1 2011 Government Land Sale programme will inject supply to the mass market segment, and this may rein in mass market home prices,” said Christine Sun, senior manager at Savills Research & Consultancy.

However, it will have little impact on the mid-tier and luxury home prices, which could see further increase, considering the positive economic outlook for 2011, said Ms. Sun.

Brandon Lee, an analyst at DMG & Partners Research, expects a 10 percent decline in mass market home prices because of supply and continued policy risks.