SINGAPORE – The Singapore private residential market continued to show resilience amid uncertain economic conditions, with a 2.1 per cent gain in the fourth quarter, up from 0.8 per cent from the previous three months, and 0.5 per cent growth a year ago.
Data released on Friday (Jan 22) morning by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) showed that for the whole of 2020, the price rise was unchanged from its flash estimate of 2.2 per cent, compared with 2.7 per cent growth in 2019. Prices surged 7.9 per cent in 2018.
But sales of new units by developers fell 26 per cent in the fourth quarter from the previous three months. For the whole of 2020, though, sales of new private homes achieved a rise of 0.7 per cent in a pandemic year.
For the fourth quarter of 2020, developers sold 2,603 units (excluding executive condominium), down from the 3,517 units taken up in the third quarter. For 2020, developers sold 9,982 new homes, up 0.7 per cent from 9,912 units sold a year earlier.
Private resale transactions accounted for 61.3 per cent of all sales done in the fourth quarter compared with 49.2 per cent in the previous quarter. Resale volumes surged to 4,249 units in the fourth quarter, compared with 3,467 units sold in the third quarter.
For 2020, resales jumped nearly 20 per cent to 10,729 transactions, compared with 8,949 in 2019.
In terms of property type, prices of non-landed condominiums and apartments grew 2.5 per cent last year, outpacing the 1.2 per cent rise in the prices of landed properties.
For the fourth quarter, prices of landed homes fell 1.6 per cent, compared with 3.7 per cent growth in the third quarter, after remaining unchanged in the second quarter. Prices of non-landed homes grew 3 per cent in the fourth quarter, compared with a 0.1 per cent increase in the previous quarter.
URA said prices of non-landed properties in the prime or core central region (CCR) rose 3.2 per cent in the fourth quarter compared with a 3.8 per cent fall in the third quarter.
Prices of non-landed properties in the city fringe or rest of central region (RCR) jumped 4.4 per cent, compared with a 2.5 per cent rise in the previous quarter.
Prices in the suburbs or outside central region (OCR) rose 1.8 per cent, compared with a 1.7 per cent gain in the previous quarter.
Rents of overall private residential properties improved in the fourth quarter, up 0.1 per cent compared with a 0.5 per cent drop in the previous quarter. But for 2020, private home rents dropped 0.6 per cent compared with a 1.4 per cent rise n 2019.
Rents of non-landed properties dipped 0.1 per cent in the fourth quarter, easing from a drop of 0.6 per cent in the previous quarter.
For the whole of 2020, rents of non-landed properties in CCR and RCR fell 2.4 per cent and 0.1 per cent respectively, while rents of non-landed properties in OCR gained 3 per cent.
Developers launched 3,147 uncompleted private residential units (excluding ECs) for sale in the fourth quarter, compared with the 3,791 units in the previous quarter. For 2020, developers launched 10,833 uncompleted private residential properties for sale, compared with 11,345 units in 2019.
Developers did not launch any EC units for sale in the fourth quarter, and sold 133 EC units. For the whole of 2020, developers launched 1,044 EC units for sale and sold 958 EC units, compared with the 820 units launched and 505 units sold in 2019.
As at the end of the fourth quarter, there was a total supply of 49,307 uncompleted private residential units (excluding ECs) in the pipeline with planning approvals, compared with 50,369 units in the previous quarter.
Of this number, 24,296 units remained unsold as at the end of the fourth quarter, compared with the 26,483 units in the previous quarter.