Singapore's Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) on Monday released flash data, which shows prices for private homes in the city continued to decline by 0.5 per cent in the first quarter of this year. Moreover, the decline rate has remained same as of the previous quarter.
According to analysts, though it is the 14th straight month of contraction, the residential market is slowly stabilising. However, there will be no quick turnaround in the near future given the challenging economy, rising interest rates and uncertainty in the jobs market, reported The Straits Times.
Channel News Asia stated that prices of non-landed private residential properties fell by 0.2 per cent in the Core Central Region (CCR), compared with the 0.1 per cent decline in the previous quarter. However, prices in the Rest of Central Region (RCR), after the 2 percent decline in the previous quarter, remained unchanged. Meanwhile, prices in the Outside Central Region (OCR) rose 0.1 per cent, after registering a 0.6 per cent decline in the previous quarter. On the other hand, landed homes' prices experienced a drop of 2.8 per cent after increasing 0.8 per in the fourth quarter of 2016.
Transaction prices given in contracts submitted for stamp duty payment as well as survey data on new units sold till mid-March are used to compile the flash data, reported the news website. The records will be updated according to URA's full real estate statistics for the quarter. "Past data have shown that the difference between the quarterly price changes indicated by the flash estimate and the actual price changes could be significant when the change is small. The public is advised to interpret the flash estimates with caution," the URA said, as reported.
