http://www.straitstimes.com/archive/...-2016-20131026

204,500 homes set to be ready by 2016

More private homes, ECs due for completion bump up earlier forecast

Published on Oct 26, 2013

By Melissa Tan


THE projected number of homes that will be built by 2016 has gone up to 204,461 units, said Minister of National Development Khaw Boon Wan in a Facebook post yesterday.

This was up from a previous forecast of 197,559 units made in January.

"We are making good progress in our ramp-up of the home-building programme," Mr Khaw said.

The increase in the projected total was solely due to more private homes and executive condominium (EC) units set for completion over the next three years.

Housing Board flat numbers to be completed remain the same.

So far this year, 9,519 private homes have been built and 6,305 more will be finished by Dec 31. Over the next three years, 4,884 more private homes are scheduled to come onstream.

As for ECs, a hybrid of public and private housing, 1,253 units have been completed so far this year and 406 more are due to be completed by the year end. An expected 1,355 EC units will be completed over the next three years.

But the bulk of the completions will be in 2016, likely due to delays, market watchers said.

The revised estimates yesterday were released alongside the Urban Redevelopment Authority's (URA) private property price index data for the third quarter.

Overall private home prices rose 0.4 per cent, mainly owing to a 2.2 per cent increase in the suburban region, URA data showed.

That outweighed a 0.3 per cent dip in city centre prices and a 1.1 per cent slide in the city fringe. This marked the first time city fringe prices have fallen since the first three months of last year.

New sale volumes plunged 46 per cent to 2,430 units and resale volumes tumbled 35 per cent to 1,340 units in the third quarter.

Developers also held back major launches, releasing 3,313 new units for sale - 25 per cent less than in the second quarter.

Private home rents inched up 0.2 per cent in the third quarter.

This was despite the number of vacant units climbing from 5.6 per cent in the second quarter to 6.1 per cent in the third quarter, the URA said.

The stock of completed private residential units also grew by 3,478 units in July through last month.

Knight Frank research head Alice Tan said prices will likely drop in most market segments this quarter as developers cut launch prices to boost sales.

She expects city centre prices to drop by 0.3 per cent to 0.5 per cent, city fringe prices to rise 0.2 per cent and suburban prices to grow by 0.5 per cent to 1 per cent quarter on quarter.

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