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Saturday, January 24, 2009

Housing market in Singapore continue to weaken

According to CNA: Private home prices fell by 6.1 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2008. The drop is 2.4 per cent in the third quarter ended September. Sales of private homes also declined in the fourth quarter. There were only 407 transactions, about 72 per cent lower than in the third quarter.

Strong demand pushed up private home prices by about 31 per cent in 2007. But the picture changed very quickly in just one year. In 2008, overall prices of private residential properties fell by 4.7 per cent, hurt by the global slowdown. Market watchers said they expect to see more downside.

Prices of homes in prime areas continued to slip faster than those in the mid-tier and mass market segments in the fourth quarter of 2008. They fell 6.5 per cent, compared with the 6.2 per cent drop for the mid-tier and the 5.9 per cent decline for the mass market segments.

It is unclear how long and how deep the recession will be, but some market players are already expecting the potential fall in private home prices to be comparable to levels seen during the Asian financial crisis when prices dropped by 42 per cent over two years.

According to the Urban Redevelopment Authority, 706 uncompleted units were launched for sale by developers in the fourth quarter, down from 2,244 units in the previous three months.

Meanwhile, public housing prices remained more resilient. HDB resale flat prices in the fourth quarter rose by 1.4 per cent, albeit lower than the 4.2 per cent increase recorded in the third quarter. But transactions fell by 24 per cent to about 6,190 units, while the median cash-over-valuation amount dropped by S$4,000 to S$15,000 in the fourth quarter. Property analysts expect the downtrend to continue.


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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I just met up with a housing agent who says she knew no other business than being a housing agent.
She's been in the business for more than past 20 years.
With all the recent hiccups, stumble & fall in the global economy, she's confident in her doings as an agent.
How right can that be?

Anonymous said...

she wants to earn your money. if she says house will drop further, then you dont buy, then she got no income!

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