Condo resale prices fall by 0.7%

[reporter2]

http://www.straitstimes.com/business...ces-fall-by-07

Condo resale prices fall by 0.7%

Nov 9, 2016


Resale prices of condominium units and apartments fell by 0.7 per cent last month from September, according to flash estimates released by SRX Property yesterday.

September's drop in resale prices was revised up to 0.6 per cent from the flash estimate of 0.9 per cent.

Based on the SRX Property index, resale prices for private non-landed homes last month were at their lowest in 50 months, or just over four years.

Last month's index value of 163.6 is the lowest since the index hit 162.3 in July 2012.

Year on year, resale prices last month were 1.1 per cent lower than a year ago, and 8.5 per cent off their recent peak in January 2014.

Going by location, the city fringes and outlying districts saw year on year price declines of 2 per cent and 3.3 per cent respectively. On the other hand, the prime districts saw prices increase by 4.9 per cent, extending their price recovery.

Resale transactions also dropped by 15.2 per cent last month with 586 homes sold compared to 691 units in September.

Year on year, though, resale volume was 15.4 per cent higher compared to 508 units resold in October last year.

It was down by 71.4 per cent compared to its peak of 2,050 units in April 2010.

To close sales, sellers last month went a median $10,000 below the estimated market value of their property, the same as in September.

SRX's median TOX measures whether buyers are overpaying or underpaying its computer-generated market value.

For districts with more than 10 resale transactions, district 16 (Bedok, Upper East Coast, Siglap) posted the highest median TOX of +$10,000.

Among relatively active districts, district 21 (Upper Bukit Timah, Ulu Pandan, Clementi Park) posted the most negative median TOX of -$23,000.

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http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real...er-down-07-srx

Resale condo prices in October down 0.7%: SRX

They are now 8.5% below the peak in January 2014; main drag is Outside Central Region

By Lynette Khoo

[email protected]

@LynetteKhooBT

Nov 9, 2016


RESALE prices of non-landed private homes slipped a steeper 0.7 per cent in October after a 0.6 per cent decline in September, the flash estimate from SRX Property shows.

The main drag came from the suburban area or the Outside Central Region, where resale prices fell 2 per cent, followed by a 0.8 per cent drop in the prime area or Core Central Region (CCR).

On the other hand, resale prices in the city fringe or Rest of Central Region (RCR) recorded an increase of 1.5 per cent during the month.

SRX Property data shows that resale prices of condominiums are now 8.5 per cent below the recent peak in January 2014 and 1.1 per cent lower than a year ago.

Still, the estimated resale volume in October - which most likely slipped 15.2 per cent over a month to 586 units - represented a 71.4 per cent contraction from the peak of 2,050 resale units in April 2010. The estimated October volume was 15.4 per cent more than a year ago.

About 82 per cent of monthly transactions are typically captured by the time SRX Property's flash report for private non-landed resale prices is released.

Such a private-sector flash estimate confirms that resale properties are still facing headwinds due to the substantial new residential completions since 2014 and the loan curb under the total debt servicing ratio framework, said R'ST Research director Ong Kah Seng.

"From around mid-2016, we are seeing more property owners who have cleared their four-year holding period, avoid paying the seller's stamp duty upon reselling property. For those investors who bought suburban condos and experience weak leasing demand, they are increasingly willing to cut prices," Mr Ong observed.

Lee Nai Jia, head of South-east Asia research at Edmund Tie & Company, pointed out that there were further pressures on home prices following Singapore's third-quarter economic report. "The market continues to be dominated by prospective buyers of mass-market non-landed homes and they tend to be more price-sensitive," he said. Still, home prices in the CCR and RCR looked "remarkably resilient", going by SRX Property's sub-indices, which showed resale prices in these regions still holding up above end-2015 levels.

"However, to add a caveat, the index is based on transactions and does not account for the time the property has been on the market. Hence, homeowners looking to sell the homes in RCR and CCR at a short notice may have to be more flexible on pricing," Dr Lee added.

PropNex Realty's branch district director Dominic Lee noted that October's resale price dip in CCR non-landed homes was largely expected given that some developers were moving resale units with discounts during that month. But seeing this as a blip, Mr Lee said: "I'm still of the opinion that we might already be in a new property cycle led by an uptick in CCR prices."