Source : The Business Times, July 24, 2009

Prices of Singapore's private homes fell 4.7 per cent in the second quarter, less than earlier estimated.

The Urban Redevelopment Authority said in a news release on Friday that the price index of private residential property, for the three-month period ending June, dropped to 133.3 from 139.9 in the first quarter, falling for the fourth straight quarter.

Preliminary figures from the URA earlier this month showed prices easing 5.9 per cent.

It also said that house rentals were down 5.2 per cent in the second quarter after a 8.5 per cent drop in the first three months of this year. -- BT ONLINE

Analysts say the worse is over for Singapore's private property market even though private home prices continued to fall in the second quarter.

Citing a recent surge in Singapore's equity market, a spate of new developments being launched and an influx of foreign buyers, the analysts forecast home prices turning positive as early as next quarter.

Data released from the Urban Redevelopment Authority today, showed that Singapore’s private home prices fell 4.7 percent in the second quarter.

Although it's the fourth quarterly decline in residential property prices, it's less than URA's initial estimate of a 5.9 per cent drop announced earlier this month, and a far cry from the 14.1 percent plunge in the first quarter.

Steven Tan, executive director of property consultancy Orange Tee, says the numbers reflect a boost in investor confidence in the Singapore market.

"More and more buyers are confident that the global and Singapore economy is on the way to recovery and there is also a lot of pent up demand especially from the HDB upgraders. The market is also supported by foreign buyers from countries like China, Indonesia, India...some even come in quite a big way, some institutions are looking for a bulk purchase."

According to Li Hiaw Ho, Executive Director of CBRE Research, the total number of new homes sold in the second quarter exceeded the total number of new homes sold in the entire year 2008.

She attributes this to strong market sentiments from buyers worried that home prices may rise again after having corrected from peak levels.

The URA data also showed activity in the sub-sales market, which more than doubled to 940 in the second quarter, accounting for more than a tenth of all sale transactions in the quarter.

Managing director of Cushman and Wakefield Donald Han says this indicates the presence of more speculators in the market - which may not necessarily be a bad thing.

"The improvement that we're seeing certainly would attract a lot of investors, let it be investors or specu-vestors - people who can hold a little bit longer but the intention is still to sell, into the marketplace and I think even if there is speculators in the market, they still play an important role in terms of trying to create liquidity and I think there is a role for both long term as well as short term investors in today's market."

Private residential rents also fell 5.2 percent in the second quarter but moderated from an 8.5 percent fall in the previous quarter.

Resale Prices Of HDB Homes Up 1.4% In Q2

Source : 938live.sg , 24th July 2009

The resale prices of HDB flats rose by 1.4 percent in the second quarter of 2009.

This comes after a slight drop of 0.8 percent in the three months ending March.

The jump in the second quarter was higher than an initial estimate of a 1.2 per cent increase made earlier this month.

Resale transactions also rose, jumping from 6,400 cases in the first quarter, to 10,000 cases in the 2nd quarter.

The median cash-over-valuation or COV amount among all resale transactions continued its declining trend.

COV fell to $3,000 in the second quarter, down $1,000 from the 1st quarter.

CEO of real estate firm Propnex, Mohamed Ismail, said the lower COV made resale flats more attractive.

"COV has further declined, and this would have attributed for more buyers looking towards resale rather than the BTO or DBSS. Because either BTO or DBSS will take 3 to 4 years before they can get the keys to their respective houses. And this trend is expected to continue as long as the HDB COV is low, there will be greater demand."

HDB flats which sold above valuation accounted for 57 per cent of all resale transactions in the second quarter, down from 62 percent in the previous quarter.

HDB also announced plans to launch 6,000 new Build-to-Order flats over the next six months, of which some 2,400 units will be 3-room or smaller apartments.

The bulk of the new flats will be in Punggol.

In the HDB rental market, rents for 3-room, 4-room and executive flats fell by $100, but remained the same for 2-room and 5-room units.