Category Archives: Property Market / Real Estate

Many Singaporeans still dissatisfied with housing market

Many Singaporeans are still unhappy with the state of the local property market, according to PropertyGuru’s latest Property Affordability Sentiment Survey 2016.

About 44 percent of the survey’s 933 respondents reported being dissatisfied with the market. The main cause of unhappiness remains the sky-high property prices.

However, the majority of those polled believe home prices will stabilise or fall further in the next six months.

Meanwhile, 28 percent of respondents said they are satisfied with the local market, up from 26 percent during the same period in 2014.

Close to half of the respondents (48 percent) said they intend to purchase residential property in the next six months, up five percent from 2014. Their optimism is largely due to the good long-term prospects for capital appreciation.

At the same time, 42 percent of respondents feel the government is doing enough to make housing affordable, up nine percent from two years ago. About 68 percent support the government’s property cooling measures.

“(The) results show that although pricing concerns remain, the overall mood is more positive, with almost half of respondents saying they intend to buy this year,” said Steve Melhuish, CEO and co-founder of PropertyGuru Group.

“We know that finding your ideal property can be daunting, and without transparency or relevant information, the property-buying process can be frustrating and confusing. Through our regular surveys, research insights, tools and media-rich content, we aim to help millions of consumers make more informed and confident decisions every month,” he added.

Carried out in December 2015, the survey offers insights into the current mood and attitudes of property seekers here, and has been conducted regularly since 2009.

Read the full report here.

Private home prices down 0.7% in Q1

Prices of private residential properties in Singapore fell by 0.7 percent in the first quarter of 2016, compared to the 0.5 percent decline in the previous quarter, according to complete data released by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) on Friday, 22 April.

In the Outside Central Region (OCR), prices dropped by 1.3 percent after remaining unchanged in the previous quarter. Prices of non-landed properties in the Rest of Central Region (RCR) remained unchanged, compared to the previous 0.4 percent decline. Prices of non-landed properties in the Core Central Region (CCR) rose by 0.3 percent, compared to the previous 0.3 percent decline. Prices of landed properties fell by 1.1 percent, compared to the 1.8 percent decrease in the previous quarter.

Property Price Index of private residential properties

Source: URA

Rentals of private residential properties fell by 1.3 percent in Q1 2016, the same rate of decline as in the previous quarter.

Rental prices fell across all segments of the market. Rentals of non-landed properties fell by 1.7 percent in the CCR, 0.6 percent in the RCR and 1.2 percent in the OCR, compared to declines of 0.4 percent, 1.6 percent and 1.8 percent respectively in the previous quarter. Meanwhile, rentals of landed properties declined by 2.2 percent, compared with the 2.3 percent decline in the previous quarter.

Excluding executive condominiums (ECs), developers launched 953 uncompleted private condos for sale in Q1, compared to the 1,333 units in the previous quarter. As for ECs, developers launched 534 units for sale, compared to the 505 units launched previously.

Meanwhile, developers sold a total of 1,419 units, excluding ECs, in Q1, compared to the 1,603 units sold in the previous quarter. As for ECs, they sold 762 units over the same period, compared to 573 in the previous three-month period.

Lewis Ng, Managing Director, PropertyGuru Singapore, said: “While the residential property market saw overall prices and transactions fall by 0.7 percent and 11 percent respectively, PropertyGuru saw an eight percent increase in queries for properties for sale over the same period.

“This indicates that Singaporeans are still greatly interested in the property market, doing their research and viewing properties. Many consumers are just biding their time for prices to drop sufficiently, and exploring their options thoroughly before buying a home.”