reporter2
12-06-13, 18:40
http://www.straitstimes.com/archive/saturday/premium/money/story/marginal-overall-dip-curbs-impact-felt-20130608
RESALE NON-LANDED PRIVATE HOMES: IN MAY
Marginal overall dip as curbs' impact is felt
Published on Jun 08, 2013
THE lingering effects of the property curbs imposed in January largely explained a dip in resale private home prices last month, analysts say.
Condominium resale prices fell 0.5 per cent overall from April to May, the Singapore Real Estate Exchange (SRX) said yesterday.
This is after they inched up a revised 0.1 per cent in April from the preceding month. The initial flash figures for April had showed a 0.4 per cent decline.
For the latest data, SRX has introduced a new index, the "SRX Property Index" (SPI), to determine resale price changes, instead of looking at weighted average per sq ft (psf) prices. The SRX said the SPI aims to account for factors such as the unit size, leasehold and distance to MRT stations.
The marginal decline last month "shows that the latest round of cooling measures have been effective in engineering a soft landing for property market prices", said ERA Realty key executive officer Eugene Lim.
Resale condo prices in the city centre slid 0.5 per cent from the preceding month, a slower decline than in April when prices tumbled a revised 2.8 per cent from the preceding month, the SPI shows.
The revision to the April figure is partly because previous months' resale price changes have been recalculated using the SPI.
For the city fringe, the 0.4 per cent price drop in May month -on-month was a reversal from April's revised 1.1 per cent climb.
In contrast, suburban regions saw a slight increase of 0.3 per cent from April to May. However, this was more muted than the revised 1.9 per cent increase in resale prices from March to April.
Islandwide resale transaction volumes also stayed relatively subdued last month. There were 666 non-landed private homes resold last month, according to flash data, the SRX said, adding that the final volume for the month is projected to be about 750 units. This projection exceeds the 671 units resold in April, but would still be around 40 per cent lower than the 1,292 private home resales recorded in May last year. "Buyers are more interested in new sales as they are newer and they are buying for investment and capital appreciation," Mr Lim said.
Private home rentals also fell last month from the preceding month, by 0.6 per cent. The largest decline was in suburban regions at 1.1 per cent, followed by a 0.7 per cent drop in the city centre. The city fringe rent decline was the mildest at 0.4 per cent.
MELISSA TAN
RESALE NON-LANDED PRIVATE HOMES: IN MAY
Marginal overall dip as curbs' impact is felt
Published on Jun 08, 2013
THE lingering effects of the property curbs imposed in January largely explained a dip in resale private home prices last month, analysts say.
Condominium resale prices fell 0.5 per cent overall from April to May, the Singapore Real Estate Exchange (SRX) said yesterday.
This is after they inched up a revised 0.1 per cent in April from the preceding month. The initial flash figures for April had showed a 0.4 per cent decline.
For the latest data, SRX has introduced a new index, the "SRX Property Index" (SPI), to determine resale price changes, instead of looking at weighted average per sq ft (psf) prices. The SRX said the SPI aims to account for factors such as the unit size, leasehold and distance to MRT stations.
The marginal decline last month "shows that the latest round of cooling measures have been effective in engineering a soft landing for property market prices", said ERA Realty key executive officer Eugene Lim.
Resale condo prices in the city centre slid 0.5 per cent from the preceding month, a slower decline than in April when prices tumbled a revised 2.8 per cent from the preceding month, the SPI shows.
The revision to the April figure is partly because previous months' resale price changes have been recalculated using the SPI.
For the city fringe, the 0.4 per cent price drop in May month -on-month was a reversal from April's revised 1.1 per cent climb.
In contrast, suburban regions saw a slight increase of 0.3 per cent from April to May. However, this was more muted than the revised 1.9 per cent increase in resale prices from March to April.
Islandwide resale transaction volumes also stayed relatively subdued last month. There were 666 non-landed private homes resold last month, according to flash data, the SRX said, adding that the final volume for the month is projected to be about 750 units. This projection exceeds the 671 units resold in April, but would still be around 40 per cent lower than the 1,292 private home resales recorded in May last year. "Buyers are more interested in new sales as they are newer and they are buying for investment and capital appreciation," Mr Lim said.
Private home rentals also fell last month from the preceding month, by 0.6 per cent. The largest decline was in suburban regions at 1.1 per cent, followed by a 0.7 per cent drop in the city centre. The city fringe rent decline was the mildest at 0.4 per cent.
MELISSA TAN