If anyone has found it increasingly difficult to find buyers for their private apartment, they may not be alone. Falling resale private non-landed property prices have heightened market competition, aided by the increase in completed new units hitting the market and the presence of major new launches in the past quarter.
The weak rental market has not helped as well. Property experts are expecting the rental demand to remain stagnant till 2017. In August, 830 units exchanged hands while only 683 were transacted in September. The drop in transactions were particularly apparent in the suburbs, once again possibly fuelled by the influx of completed units since 2014. The only bright spark came from the core central region resale properties, with a 0.6 per cent rise from August.
The volatility of the economic outlook and impending interest rates hike has also caused some edginess and those who may not have been able to handle the financial burdens of servicing their home loans may also be in a hurry to sell, thus pulling home prices down. Private resale apartment prices have fallen once more in September, this time by 0.9 per cent. In a year-on-year comparison, prices were 1.5 per cent lower than in 2015. City fringe home prices fell 1.3 per cent.
