Non-landed home resale prices fall due to property cooling measures


ChannelNewsasia.com - 34 mins ago


Non-landed home resale prices fall due...

SINGAPORE: Non-landed home prices in the secondary property market
in Singapore continued to soften in the first quarter of 2012, with those
in the prime districts 9, 10 and 11 faring worst.

According to a report by DTZ Research, resale prices of luxury condominiums and freehold condominiums in the prime districts
fell by 0.8 per cent and 0.7 per cent respectively. Resale prices of leasehold condominiums in the suburban areas registered a slight
quarter-on-quarter increase of 0.3 per cent, a moderation from the
1.0 per cent growth in Q4 2011. Transaction of non-landed home
is also slowed to about 470 units per month over January and February. This was also lower than the monthly average of about 1,400 units
in 2011.

DTZ Research attributed the lower prices and transactions to property cooling measures such as the Additional Buyer's Stamp Duty measures implemented in December last year. Competition from uncompleted projects is another factor that has impacted resale property sales,
the DTZ report added. The report highlighted that a high monthly
average of 2,200 new units, excluding executive condominiums,
were launched in January and February, compared to a monthly
average of 1,510 units launched in 2011. Resale prices of landed
homes, however, rebounded in Q1 2012 after moderating growth for
two consecutive quarters. Freehold landed homes in suburban areas
and prime districts 9, 10 and 11 respectively registered stronger price increases of 1.6 per cent and 1 per cent on-quarter, compared to
0.7 per cent and 0.8 per cent over the last quarter of 2011.

DTZ said that primary sales, excluding executive condominiums,
averaged 2,143 units per month in the first two months of 2012,
higher than the 2011 monthly average of 1,364 units.

Chua Chor Hoon, Head of Asia Pacific Research at DTZ said: "Projects
that were launched previously are being re-launched to ride on the current buying momentum. If purchase demand continues to remain
strong at above 1,500 units a month, we do not preclude the possibility
of further government cooling measures."