image by Erwin Soo
Singapore: Prices of private residential properties in Singapore fell 4 per cent in 2014, according to latest figures released by Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) on 23 Jan.
Private residential property prices fell 1.1 per cent in the 4th quarter and 0.7 per cent in the 3rd quarter. Altogether prices have fallen for five consecutive quarters.
image source: URA
For the whole of 2014, prices fell 4.1% in Core Central Region (CCR), 5.3% in Rest of Central Region (RCR) and 2.2% Outside Central Region (OCR) URA said.
Likewise, landed property prices also fell, dropping 1.3 per cent in the 4th quarter and 1.8 per cent in the 3rd quarter. For the whole of 2014, prices of landed properties fell by 5.3 per cent.
In 2014, excluding executive condominiums (ECs), developers:
Launched 1,592 uncompleted private residential units - 4th Quarter.
Sold 1,376 units - 4th Quarter.
Launched 1,294 units - 3rd Quarter.
Sold 1,531 units - 3rd Quarter.
For the whole of 2014, 7,693 units were launched, down from the 15,885 units launched in 2013.
For ECs, 2,505 units were launched in 2014 - all in the fourth quarter - and sold 1,578 units.
In all of 2014 resale transactions fell to 4,860 units, down significantly from the 6,671 units in 2013. 4th quarter resale transaction is 1,151, down from 1,377 in 3rd quarter.
The TDSR (Total Debt Servicing Ratio) introduced to curb loans has done a pretty decent job of slowing down prices, though prices did not come down a lot quicker than expected by the general public.
2015 will continue to see some headwinds which are expected to constrain the demand for homes. These include a lacklustre leasing market, potentially rising interest rates and a surge in new homes completion.