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HDB and private property prices up in Q1 flash estimates
Channel NewsAsia
Tuesday, 1 April 2008, 1345 hrs
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Private residential property prices in Singapore
rose 4.2% in the first quarter this year, according to the latest preliminary estimates from the Urban Redevelopment Authority.
The pace was slower than the 6.8% clip recorded in the fourth quarter of last year.
On a quarter on quarter basis, the biggest rise in property prices for non-landed properties came from the central districts just outside the prime postal districts of 9, 10 and 11.
Prices in these central areas (i.e.
RCR)
increased 7.7% in January to March, compared with the October to December period.
Properties in the prime districts of 9, 10 and 11, as well as the downtown area and Sentosa (i.e.
CCR),
rose 7.5% on quarter.
And those in the rest of Singapore (i.e.
OCR)
advanced about 7% in the first quarter from the previous three months.
The preliminary estimates are based on transaction prices given in caveats lodged during the first 10 weeks of the quarter, as well as the number of new units sold.
Meantime, the Housing and Development Board says prices of
HDB resale flats
rose 3.4% in the January to March period over the previous three months.
This is lower than the 5.7% increase in the fourth quarter.
Both the URA and HDB will release final figures at the end of April.
The URA said in its release, that as at 4th Quarter 2007,there are about 64,900 private residential units in the pipeline, of which about 56,100 new private housing units are expected to be completed between 2008 and 2011.
There are also some 38,300 units that have yet to be put on sale by developers.
As for the supply of government flats, the HDB said it had made available in the first quarter of this year, some 1,100 new flats in two Build-To-Order (BTO) projects in Punggol and Yishun.
It said that depending on demand, there could be another 5,000 new BTO flats in towns such as Punggol, Sengkang, Woodlands and Bukit Panjang.
The total planned BTO supply of 6,100 new flats for January till September 2008 will surpass the annual BTO flat supply in 2007 and 2006.
This new supply of flats will be in addition to those offered under Balloting Exercises for surplus replacement SERS and other flats, as well as the planned release of three Design-and-Build sites in Simei, Toa Payoh and Bedok with some 1,500 flats in the 1st half of 2008.
