Private home prices in Singapore fell for the first time in three years, dropping by 0.4 percent in the second quarter of 2023, according to flash estimates released by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) on Monday (Jul 3).
This is the first quarterly decrease in prices since the first quarter of 2020 as price momentum eased across all market segments, said URA.
On a quarter-on-quarter basis, the index fell by 0.4 percent in the second quarter following a 3.3 percent gain in the previous quarter.
The fall in prices comes after several rounds of property cooling measures since December 2021, including the latest increase in additional buyer’s stamp duty which was implemented in April.
The prices of non-landed properties fell by 0.5 percent in the second quarter, a reversal from the 2.6 percent increase in the previous quarter.
The decline was mainly driven by properties in the Rest of the Central Region (RCR), where prices fell by 2.6 percent compared with a 4.4 percent increase in the previous quarter.
The pace of increase in the Core Central Region (CCR) moderated to 0.3 percent, from the 0.8 percent increase in the previous quarter.
The increase in prices in the Outside Central Region (OCR) similarly moderated to 1.2 percent, from a 1.9 percent increase in the previous quarter.
Prices of landed properties saw their smallest gain in two years, said URA, increasing by 0.1 percent compared with the 5.9 percent rise in the previous quarter.
While the sale transaction volume increased by about 16 percent on a quarter-on-quarter basis amid a rise in the number of units launched for sale, it fell by about 30 percent on a year-on-year basis, said URA.
The sale transaction volume totalled 4,762 in the second quarter of 2023, compared to 4,121 in the previous quarter and 6,811 in the second quarter of 2022.
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 until mid-June.
URA will release its full set of real estate statistics for the second quarter of 2023 on Jul 28.
