SINGAPORE: Private residential property prices rose 2.3 per cent in the fourth quarter due primarily to a last-minute surge in new home sales, reversing a modest drop in the third quarter.
The latest data, from flash estimates released by the Urban Redevelopment Authority on Thursday (Jan 2), follows a 0.7 per cent drop in the third quarter and a 0.9 per cent gain in the second quarter.
For 2024, the private residential price index still grew at a slower pace of 3.9 per cent, compared with a 6.8 per cent gain in 2023 and an 8.6 per cent jump in 2022.
This is the slowest annual price growth recorded since 2020, when prices increased by just 2.2 per cent during the Covid-19 pandemic.
New home sales, excluding executive condominiums skyrocketed 206.7 per cent to 3,398 units in the fourth quarter, from 1,108 units in the third quarter.
Six new projects – Chuan Park, Emerald of Katong, Nava Grove, The Collective at One Sophia, Union Square Residences and Novo Place EC – accounted for more than 82 per cent of total new home sales in November alone.
Following successive interest rate cuts in September, November and December, new home sales swelled in October and November, due to pent-up demand resulting from developers holding back new launches and higher interest rates earlier in the year, said Knight Frank Singapore’s head of research Leonard Tay.
Collectively, new private home sales in October and November came in at 3,295 units, outperforming the 3,049 units sold in the first nine months of 2024.
But for the year up to mid-December, sale transactions fell by about 14 per cent to 21,232 units compared to the annual average of 24,830 units in 2021 to 2023, according to URA.
Buoying the overall private residential prices were sharp gains in non-landed property prices and a slower decline in landed prices.
Non-landed property prices jumped 3.2 per cent in the fourth quarter from 0.1 per cent gain in the third quarter, while landed prices dipped just 0.9 per cent compared with a 3.4 per cent drop over the same period.
Prices of non-landed properties in the suburban area gained 3.4 per cent in the fourth quarter, after holding steady at zero growth in the third quarter.
Similarly, the city fringe submarket jumped 3.4 per cent, from a 0.8 per cent rise in the third quarter, while prime district property prices rebounded 2.4 per cent, reversing a drop of 1.1 per cent in the third quarter.
Nicholas Mak, chief research officer at property portal Mogul.sg, noted that the rebound in prime property prices bodes well for new prime launches this year.
“About 20 residential projects could be launched this year, with half of these in the prime district. The steady property price growth and strong primary market sales in the fourth quarter would be the impetus for developers to push out their new launches this year,” he said.
Tay also attributed the recovery in prime property prices to The Collective at One Sophia, which sold 62 units at a reported median price of $2,732 psf. - The Straits Times/ANN
