The rise of private home prices slowed sharply in the third quarter after the government announced measures to cool the red-hot market, data released by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) on Monday (Oct 1) showed.
Private home prices rose 0.5 per cent in the July to September period, a sharp slowdown from the 3.4 per cent rise in the second quarter and 3.9 per cent rise in the first quarter.
Prices of non-landed properties rose by 1.2 per cent in the Core Central Region (CCR), compared to the 0.9 per cent increase in the previous quarter.
Meanwhile, prices in the Rest of Central Region (RCR) decreased by 0.8 per cent, after registering an increase of 5.6 per cent in the previous quarter, said URA.
Prices in Outside Central Region (OCR) increased by 0.1 per cent, after rising 3 per cent increase in the previous quarter.
The Government announced in July a 5 percentage point hike in Additional Buyer’s Stamp Duty (ABSD) rates for citizens and permanent residents (PRs) buying second and subsequent homes, as well as a 5 percentage point tightening for loan-to-value limits for all housing loans granted by financial institutions.
The measures were made to cool the property market and keep price increases in line with economic fundamentals, authorities said.
The move came several days after official data showed that private home prices had risen to their highest point in four years in the April to June quarter.
The flash estimates for the third quarter 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-September.
The statistics will be updated on Oct 26 when URA releases the full real estate statistics for the quarter.
Source: Channel NewsAsia – 1 Oct 2018