http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/arch...eriod-20121110
Published November 10, 2012
Non-landed private homes' resale prices up 7.3% in Jan-Oct period
But transaction volumes dip 10.2%; average unit rental sees a marginal increase of 0.5%
By jasmine ng
RESALE prices of non-landed private homes rose over the first 10 months of the year, even as transaction volumes fell 10.2 per cent.
The latest Singapore Real Estate Exchange (SRX) Residential Property Flash Report released yesterday indicated that overall resale prices gained 7.3 per cent to $1,133 per square foot (psf), up from $1,056 psf in the year-ago period.
DWG's senior manager of training, research and consultancy Lee Sze Teck said prices of resale homes were playing catch-up with those of new homes, which have tended to command a premium over resale properties, especially in areas that had project launches.
He added that the property sector launched fewer new projects in Q3, which turned the attention of buyers and investors to the resale market. "The momentum continued into October, pushing up prices of resale homes in the process," he said.
Resale prices in the outside central region (OCR), where mass-market, suburban condos are located, rose 8.7 per cent to $902 psf. The next largest price jump was clocked by properties in the rest of central region (RCR), which rose 7.7 per cent to $1,152 psf; properties in the core central region (CCR) went up 3.2 per cent to $1,718 psf.
Nicholas Mak, SLP International's head of research, noted that the price premium of CCR over OCR, which has averaged 100 per cent since 2007, had now narrowed to 84.8 per cent, the lowest since 2007.
This is because the average price of private homes in the OCR has risen faster than that in the CCR, he said.
He added that property-cooling measures appear to have had a stronger impact on the prices of high-end residential properties, such as those in CCR, than on mass-market property prices.
The 10.2 per cent dip in resale volumes of non-landed private homes came from the 10,559 properties sold in the first 10 months of the year. The figure includes the caveats lodged with the Urban Redevelopment Authority and the non-caveated transactions registered with the SRX.
Mr Mak believes the latest cooling measures - specifically the seller's stamp duty - have worked to dampen resale volumes. "Property owners are less likely to sell their properties within three to four years," he said.
Looking ahead, DWG's Mr Lee expects volume in the resale market to continue easing in Q4, as the record number of new homes launched for sale from January to October has diverted some demand away from the resale market.
Overall, the unit resale price for non-landed private residential held steady at $1,209 psf for October; this is a 4.1 per cent increase over the average of $1,159 psf posted for Q3. Unlike in the resale market, the rise in average unit rental has been marginal at 0.5 per cent, from $3.87 psf in Q3 to $3.89 last month.
The biggest rental price increase of 2 per cent was observed in OCR, followed by a modest 0.9 per cent rise in CCR.
On the other hand, RCR's average unit rental reversed its rising trend in the first three quarters of the year to slip 2.2 per cent last month, compared with Q3.
Due to strong price gains and relatively weaker performance in the rental market, overall gross rental yield fell to 3.87 per cent in October, compared with the yield of 4 per cent in Q3.
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