4 years of decline has brought home prices close to what property experts believe to be the bottom of the property cycle. And it goes for both private and public housing sectors.
Photo credit: Guocoland
Private home prices have fallen 0.1% in Q2, the lowest rate of decline in 15 consecutive quarters while resale HDB flat prices has the highest number of transactions in Q2 since the 2013 peak. Landed property prices fell 0.3% in Q2 following a 1.8% fall in Q1. Buyers are trying to catch the market before it rebounds, and it’s anyone guess how long this window of opportunity will be open for.
Some analysts are predicting a shift as early as 2018. Developers may begin to introduce higher launch prices following the positive responses from recent developer launches. The number of primary and secondary home sales recorded in the first half of this year came up to 12,107, up 64% from the same period in 2016. The total number of transactions this year is expected to almost double at 22,719 units.
Another sign that points to a stabilising market is the decrease in number of unsold private homes by 18% from 10,335 units in Q1 to 8459 in Q2. The rate at which these previously-launched units are being sold have also picked up, the fastest since 2012. Thus for home buyers who have been sitting out of the game in wait of better home prices, it may be wise to jump right in as prices are unlikely to dip even further without cause for concerns.
