Singapore private home prices, rentals rise 0.8% in Q3: URA

The vacancy rate for private homes rises to 8.4 per cent on a high number of home completions

Oct 27, 2023

THE overall prices of private residential properties in Singapore rose 0.8 per cent in the third quarter of 2023 over the preceding quarter, the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) said on Friday (Oct 27).

This is a bigger increase than the 0.5 per cent rise reflected in URA’s flash estimate released on Oct 2.

In Q2, URA’s overall private home price index dipped 0.2 per cent quarter on quarter, after property cooling measures were rolled out in late April.

From a year ago, the index is now up 4.4 per cent.

URA’s overall rental index for private homes rose 0.8 per cent quarter on quarter in Q3. This was a smaller increase than the 2.8 per cent gain posted in Q2. Year on year, the index is up 19.3 per cent.

“For the fourth consecutive quarter, the increase in rentals moderated; this was the smallest quarter-on-quarter gain since Q4 2020,” URA said.

The vacancy rate for private homes rose to 8.4 per cent as at end-Q3, from 6.3 per cent in Q2 and 5.7 per cent in Q3 2022.

URA said the average quarterly increase of private home prices of around 0.3 per cent over the past two quarters was significantly lower than the average quarterly increase of 2.1 per cent in the whole of 2022.

Prices of landed properties fell 3.6 per cent quarter on quarter in Q3 2023, reversing the 1.1 per cent increase in the previous quarter. However, prices of non-landed properties rose 2.2 per cent in Q3, contrasting with the 0.6 per cent drop in the previous quarter.

The rise in non-landed private home prices in the third quarter was led by the suburbs or Outside Central Region (OCR), where prices rose 5.5 per cent, compared with the 1.2 per cent increase in the previous quarter.

In the city-fringe or Rest of Central Region (RCR), prices rose by 2.1 per cent in Q3, contrasting with a drop of 2.5 per cent in the previous quarter.

In the prime areas or Core Central Region (CCR), prices declined by 2.7 per cent in the third quarter, after having dipped 0.1 per cent in the previous quarter.

URA said the rentals of landed homes increased 4.4 per cent in Q3, moderating from the 6.7 per cent increase in the quarter before.

The increase in rentals of non-landed properties slowed to 0.2 per cent, from the 2.3 per cent gain in the previous quarter.

Rental momentum eased across all regions. Rentals of non-landed properties in the CCR decreased by 1.7 per cent in Q3, contrasting with the 2 per cent increase in the previous quarter. Rentals in the RCR increased by 1.9 per cent, compared with 2 per cent previously. The increase in rentals in OCR moderated to 1.3 per cent, compared with 2.9 per cent in the prior quarter.

The vacancy rate of completed private residential properties (landed and non-landed combined) as at end-Q3 was 10 per cent in CCR, up from 7.9 per cent in Q2, 9.3 per cent in RCR, up from 7.9 per cent, and 7.3 per cent in OCR, also up from 4.6 per cent.

A total of 9,013 private residential units (including executive condominium or EC units) were completed in Q3. This was the highest quarterly supply completion since Q2 2016.

“Cumulatively, the total completions of 17,199 units in the first three quarters of 2023 were more than three times that for the same period in 2022,” URA said.

Projects completed in Q3 include Treasure At Tampines (2,203 units) and Normanton Park (1,862 units).

Based on the expected completion dates reported by developers, 3,167 units (including executive condominiums, or ECs) will be completed in the last quarter of 2023. For the whole of this year, about 20,400 units (including ECs) are expected to be completed. This would be the highest annual private housing supply completion since 2017, when about 20,600 private homes (including ECs) were completed, URA added. (ECs are a public-private housing hybrid.)

Another 12,032 units (including ECs) will be completed in 2024. “In total, around 39,700 units (including ECs) are expected to be completed between 2023 and 2025... This forms part of the total supply of close to 100,000 public and private housing units to be completed between 2023 and 2025, aimed at catering to the housing needs in the immediate few years ahead,” URA said.

Developers launched 2,805 uncompleted private residential units (excluding ECs) for sale in Q3, up from 2,374 units in the previous quarter. However, the number of private homes (excluding ECs) they sold fell to 1,946 units in Q3, from 2,127 units in Q2.

There were 2,900 resale transactions in Q3, down slightly from 2,976 units in the previous quarter. Resale transactions accounted for 55.8 per cent of all sale transactions in Q3, a tad higher than the 55.2 per cent share in the prior quarter.

There were 355 subsale deals in Q3, up from 285 units transacted in the previous quarter. Subsales comprised 6.8 per cent of all sale transactions in Q3, up from the 5.3 per cent share in Q2.

URA said developers launched 360 EC units for sale and sold 420 in the quarter. In the quarter before, no EC units were launched, but 57 werre sold.

As at end-Q3, there was a total supply of 36,949 uncompleted private residential units (excluding ECs) in the pipeline with planning approvals, of which 16,747 units remained unsold.

After adding the planned supply of 4,902 EC units, there were 41,851 units (including ECs) in the pipeline with planning approvals, of which 17,576 units remained unsold.

https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/pro...rise-08-q3-ura