Singapore private homes prices to go up 4-5% in second quarter

Singapore private homes prices to go up 4-5% in second quarter
By Yip Siew Joo
Private home prices in Singapore are likely to have risen four to six per cent in the second quarter.
And property consultancy CB Richard Ellis thinks they could continue to head up another three to five percent in the third quarter, as the strong demand for new homes becomes more broad-based.
CB Richard Ellis says after months of anticipation, it's seen the vigour of the high-end homes segment, filter down to the suburban market.
Executive Director Joseph Tan cites the strong take up rates at recent launches as examples.
One was Casa Merah in Tanah Merah -- the 99-year leasehold development attracted long queues of potential buyers during the first preview day.
Selling prices rose from $590 per square foot on average on the first day of the launch, to $700 per sqaure foot within days.
Other examples include Northwood in Sembawang which reprotedly sold out in 23 days, and Botannia in West Coast.
Mr Tan said the strong take-up recorded for suburban projects is due in part to the limited supply of new homes launched in this segment in the past few months.
"Launches in the suburban locations have been very limited this year. Launches between 600 to 800 dollars has been very limited. Going forward, we would still expect this sector to be limited in supply because there will be more launches in the prime areas in the coming months."
Meanwhile, CB Richard Ellis said prices of mid-tier projects have also moved up --
For instance, upcoming developments in the East -- like The Seafront on Meyer and Riverine by the Park in Kallang were launched at between $1,400 and $1,500 per square foot.
Mr Tan said the Riverine in particular, set a new price benchmark for its location.
He's expecting developers to launch a variety of projects in the next quarter as they take advantage of the continued strong demand for new homes.:scared-1:

URA Q2 home price index seen rising up to 6%
Posted: 25 June 2007 2128 hrs

SINGAPORE: Private home prices are expected to rise by 4 to 6 per cent during the second quarter of this year.

That was the forecast from property consultant CB Richard Ellis (CBRE), ahead of data to be released by the Urban Redevelopment Authority.

In its latest report, CBRE predicted the number of new homes sold in the three months to June would exceed 4,300 units.

And it said the secondary market would likely register more than 4,000 transactions, outstripping the 3,866 sales in the previous quarter.

CBRE has attributed the increase to collective sale home owners who were looking for replacement properties.

It also noted the filtering down of activity from the top-end to the suburbs.

According to CBRE, this was in part due to the limited supply of new homes within the price range of S$600-S$800 per square foot.

For the third quarter, it expects prices to continue to head up by another 3 to 5 per cent, with the takeup of new homes seen shrinking to around 3,000 units.

Private home prices in Singapore rose by 4.8 per cent in the first quarter, compared to the previous three months. - CNA/yy

Just go up lah.
Buy buy buy!