Private non-landed housing prices up 0.7% m-o-m in September: NUS SRPI flash estimate

Released from the National University of Singapore’s Institute of Real Estate and Urban Studies (IREUS) on Oct 30, the Flash estimates for the overall Singapore Residential Price Index (SRPI) has indicated that prices of resale private non-landed residential properties in Singapore grew 0.7% m-o-m in September.

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In comparison to the Singapore Consumer Price Index, which climbed 0.5% m-o-m in September, the SRPI tracked and measured the price movements of a basket of 759 non-landed private residential projects completed between October 2003 and September 2021.

The SRPI sub-index for the Central Region (excluding small units) increased by 0.8% m-o-m in September, while the sub-index for non-Central Region (excluding small units) rose 0.6% m-o-m. Small units saw the greatest increase at 1.2% m-o-m.

The final overall SRPI for August was adjusted to reflect an increase of 1% m-o-m, higher than the flash estimate of 0.7%. For the Central Region (excluding small units), the sub-index was revised to 0.9% m-o-m from 0.8%, while the non-Central Region (excluding small units) was adjusted to 1.0%, up from the 0.7% flash estimate. Small units stayed the same at 0.3%.

Lee Sze Teck, senior director of data analytics at Huttons Asia said the slower price growth in resale condo markets in September can likely be attributed to the higher-for-longer interest rates which have capped sellers’ gains. He noted buyers are also unwilling to pay higher prices due to the high interest rates.

IREUS’s report for the September SRPI also included information on buyer profiles in the resale condo market. In the last 12 months, Singaporeans accounted for an average of 74.6% of the purchases, followed by Singapore permanent residents at 21.4%, and foreigneres at 3.7%.

In terms of volume for non-landed private residential sales, the flash data showed a 28% decline m-o-m in September while condo resale volume increased by 2.5% m-o-m in August.

Looking at the period between March this year to September, the number of non-landed private homes purchased by Singaporeans, Singapore permanent residents and foreigners in the resale market decreased by 37.4%, 46.2% and 86.7%, respectively.

For foreign buyers, the number of condo units acquired on the resale market dropped from 18 units in August to just eight in September, representing a decrease of 56%.

Huttons’ Lee believes the high interest rate environment and continuing economic uncertainty will, for the remainder of 2021, continue to sustain cautious sentiments, likely leading to continued downward pressure on the resale condo market.

“Prices are estimated to increase by at most 8% in 2023,” Lee concluded.