After 14 consecutive quarters of declining private home prices, slivers of light are shining through – the suburban condominium market has seen a tad more activity with prices rising slightly; and for most part, the rate of decline has slowed.
The fall in prices of private homes stood at 0.5 per cent last quarter, similar to that in the last quarter of 2016. Suburban non-landed property prices have in fact posted a growth of 0.1 per cent after 13 straight quarters of decline. The positive figures in the suburbs could be due to the many new projects in areas outside of the central region which launched to much success in the earlier part of the year. These included developments such as The Clement Canopy in Clementi and Grandeur Park Residences in Tanah Merah. Previously-launched projects such as Parc Riviera and The Santorini also re-marketed their units resulting in favourable response from buyers.
Property analysts also contributed some of the uptick in buying sentiment to recent changes in the property cooling measures. Though the impact may not be obvious and immediate, it has nevertheless helped to inject some optimism in the market. Though the expectation is for property prices to fall 1 to 3 per cent in H1, the second half of the year should see prices stabilising and 2017 may just end on a happier note.
