Singapore’s fourth-quarter private housing price growth slows to 0.2 per cent as sales volume falls
- Private housing prices grew by 0.2 per cent in the fourth quarter, slowing down from the third quarter’s 3.8 per cent increase, according to the URA
- Sales volume fell by about 49 per cent in the fourth quarter from the previous three months
Private residential property prices grew by 0.2 per cent in the fourth quarter, according to flash estimates released by URA on January 3. This marks a slowdown from the 3.8 per cent increase recorded the previous quarter and brings total price growth for the whole of 2022 to 8.4 per cent, easing from the 10.6 per cent growth logged in 2021.
The slower price growth comes on the back of a decline in private housing sales. Sale transaction volume fell in the fourth quarter of 2022 by about 49 per cent from the third quarter, and about 60 per cent from a year earlier. For the whole of 2022, sale transaction volume fell by 36 per cent from a year ago.
The lower sales volume in the fourth quarter is in line with the absence of major private residential launches, said Lee Sze Teck, senior director of research at Huttons Asia.
“An estimated 500 to 600 units were launched for sale in 4Q2022 – the lowest quarterly launch volume since 1Q2003 when only 506 units were launched for sale,” he said. On a full-year basis, an estimated 4,500 to 4,600 units were launched in 2022, which is less than half of 2021’s launch volume of 10,496 units.
Nicholas Mak, head of research and consultancy at ERA Realty Network, said that the lower transaction volume follows a dimmer macroeconomic outlook amid interest rate hikes and inflationary pressures, as well as new property cooling measures that may have impacted homebuyers’ decision-making.
Private housing price growth in the fourth quarter was predominantly driven by landed properties, which saw prices rising 0.5 per cent over the quarter, moderating from the 1.6 per cent price growth recorded for the landed segment in the previous quarter. For the whole of 2022, the landed segment posted a price increase of 9.5 per cent, easing from the 13.3 per cent increase in 2021.
Non-landed properties registered a price growth of 0.1 per cent in the fourth quarter from the previous quarter, slowing from the 4.4 per cent increase achieved in the third quarter. This brings full-year price growth for non-landed properties to 8 per cent, lower than the 9.8 per cent increase in 2021.
