利用者:SartainSeeger704
This article requires a peek at the some of the latest property price trends in Singapore.
Most indicators claim that prices continue to head north.
The quarterly price index published by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA), demonstrated that prices of private residential properties rose by 0.6 percent in the third quarter of 2012; whereas the cost increase was just 0.4 percent within the second quarter of 2012.
A similar upward trend was spotted in the National University of Singapore (NUS) Singapore Residential Price Index (SRPI), produced by the Institution of Real Estate Studies. Unlike the cost index of URA, SRPI is a monthly index that just compares the price movements of non-public non-landed residential properties. The URA price index, however, covers different types of properties. Specifically, for private non-landed homes, the URA index shows a price increase of 0.5 per cent for 2 consecutive quarters (ie. 2Q2012 and 3Q2012). SRPI reflected a 0.6 percent increase for September 2012.
Meanwhile for Singapore's public housing landscape, the HDB Resale Price Index showed a stable increase in HDB resale prices in the first quarter of the year; with numbers standing at 0.6, 1.3 and 2 per cent for the first, second and third quarters, respectively
Based on a study with a NUS don, Assoc Prof Tilak Abeysinghe, Singapore's real estate prices have been rising above the affordable degree of a 4 percent increase annually. This number is reached based on the lifetime incomes of Singaporeans.
"The actual median price of both private and HDB units has risen by about 11 per cent annually ever since then [sic mid-2006], higher than the trend price increase of approximately 8 per cent a year." ("Inflated Housing Prices Should Ease")
The continual increase in real estate prices, coupled with quantitative easing policies in the US, Japan and Europe, have prompted the Governments in Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong to employ cooling measures to avoid property buyers from over-stretching themselves. For Singapore, on 6 October, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (Singapore's central bank) announced a cut in the loan-to value ratio (LTV), for loan tenure that exceeds 3 decades or extends past the chronilogical age of 65, to 60 percent for the first housing loan and 40 percent for subsequent loans. The maximum loan tenure has also been limited to 35 years. This is the Singapore's Government sixth attempt at lowering property prices since September 2009. It remains to be seen if this latest round of cooling measures will prove effective in reining in prices.
On a more positive note, according to Assoc Prof Tilak Abeysinghe:
"As housing supply improves within the next few years and also the immigrant population declines, don't be surprised house price inflation to fall for an affordable trend rate like 4 per cent." ("Inflated Housing Prices Should Ease")
On a similar note, URA's latest figures for October says product sales web hosting residences have dipped. This really is thought to be partly a result of the Government's newest cooling measures. Sales figures - excluding executive condominiums - showed a 26 per cent month-on-month decline. In absolute terms, 1,948 units were sold in October when compared with 2,621 in the earlier month ("New Private Home Sales Cool Rapidly in October").
Looking ahead, more property launches are expected before the close of the year, but analysts are expecting sales to continue to moderate because of the festive mood, tighter loan regulations so that as buyers take stock of rise in the property market.