SINGAPORE: Singapore home prices maintained a brisk pace of increase in the third quarter as buyers brushed aside concerns for higher interest rates.
Private property values rose 3.4% from the previous three months, when they climbed 3.5%, according to flash estimates released by the Urban Redevelopment Authority yesterday.
Prices jumped 13.2% from a year earlier. Singapore’s buoyant housing market has largely defied a global downturn triggered by steep rate hikes. US home values have dropped for the first time in a decade, while Sydney saw prices slump for the eighth straight month.
“The robust property price increase shows that some home buyers are discounting the risks of rising interest rates and possible economic slowdown,” said Nicholas Mak, the head of research and consultancy at APAC Realty Ltd unit ERA. Borrowing costs in Singapore have surged alongside global rates, as the Federal Reserve and other central banks take aggressive steps to contain soaring inflation. — Bloomberg
