Private home prices in Singapore continued their decline in the first quarter of this year, according to flash estimates released by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) on Friday (Apr 1).
The private residential property index fell to 140.6 points in the first quarter, down 1 point from the previous quarter. This represents a decline of 0.7 per cent, compared with the 0.5 per cent decline in the previous quarter.
Prices of non-landed private residential properties rose by 0.4 per cent in the Core Central Region (CCR), compared with the 0.3 per cent decline in the previous quarter. Prices in the Rest of Central Region (RCR) declined by 0.4 per cent, the same rate of change as in the previous quarter. Prices in the Outside Central Region (OCR) declined by 0.9 per cent, after registering no change in the previous quarter.
The flash estimates are compiled based on transaction prices given in contracts submitted for stamp duty payment and survey data on new units sold by developers up until mid-March. The statistics will be updated four weeks later when URA releases the full real estate statistics for the first quarter of 2016, which captures more data from the stamp duty records and the take-up of new projects.
“Past data have shown that the difference between the quarterly price changes indicated by the flash estimate and the actual price changes could be significant when the change is small. The public is advised to interpret the flash estimates with caution,” the URA added.
Source : Channel NewsAsia – 1 Apr 2016