Singapore’s home prices rise for the first time in 4 years
Home prices gained 0.5pc in the third quarter, even though most cooling measures rolled out from 2009 remain intact
Singapore’s home prices rose for the first time in four years, snapping a record run of declines and confirming recent signs that the property market is rebounding.
An index tracking private residential prices gained 0.5 per cent in the three months ended Sept. 30 from the previous quarter, according to preliminary data from the Urban Redevelopment Authority released on Monday.
A jump in home sales and developers’ aggressive bids for land are stoking optimism that the property market is making a comeback.
At the same time, the bulk of Singapore’s cooling measures rolled out from 2009 are still in place. Before the latest data, a 15-quarter decline in prices was the longest since the index was first published in 1975.
“The price rise was expected because sentiment has been buoyant,” said Christine Li, director of research for Singapore at Cushman & Wakefield Inc.
Li expects prices to remain flat for 2017 and rise five per cent in 2018, as developers market a “significant” number of new homes at higher prices.
“The government is closely monitoring the property market,” said Li.