On a quarterly basis, private home prices climbed 0.5% in the fourth quarter of 2019, continuing the 1.3% increase seen in the previous quarter.

The private homes prices in Singapore rose 2.7% in 2019, down from the 7.9% hike previously registered in 2018, according to the latest private home price index by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) on Thursday (23 January).

On a quarterly basis, private home prices climbed 0.5% in Q4 2019, compared to the 1.3% increase seen in the previous quarter.

Prices of landed homes meanwhile, increased 3.6% in Q4 2019, in contrast to the 1% increase registered in Q3 2019. Prices of non-landed homes dipped 0.3%, reversing the 1.3% hike posted previously.

Overall, 2019 saw landed home prices increase by 5.7%, while non-landed homes increased by 1.9%.

Those in the Core Central Region (CCR) fell the most by 2.8%, while those in the Rest of Central Region (RCR) declined 1.3%. The Outside Central Region (OCR), on the other hand, saw prices increase by 2.8%.

Meanwhile, rentals of private homes increased 1.4% last year, up from the 0.6% increase in 2018.

For Q4 2019, rentals decreased 1% as both the landed home and non-landed home segment posted a drop in rent at 1.6% and 0.9%, respectively.

Developers launched more units in 2019 at 11,345 uncompleted homes, compared to 8,769 units in the previous year.

READ: Our prediction and analysis of Singapore’s property market in 2020

As such, 9,912 units were sold, up from 8,795 units in 2018.

In Q4 2019, they launched 2,226 uncompleted private homes, excluding executive condominiums (ECs), down from the 3,628 units in Q3 2019.

Excluding ECs, a total of 2,443 units were sold, compared with the 3,281 units sold in Q3 2019.

Over in the secondary market, 8,949 homes were sold in 2019, of which 2,342 were transacted in the fourth quarter.

URA noted that resale transactions accounted for 48% of the total sale transactions in Q4 2019, compared with 41.3% in Q3 2019.

It also revealed that as at the end-Q4 2019, there were 49,173 uncompleted private homes and 3,192 ECs in the pipeline with planning approvals – for a total of 52,365 units. Of these, 32,272 units remained unsold.

“Based on the expected completion dates reported by developers, 6,922 units (including ECs) will be completed in 2020. Another 10,579 units (including ECs) will be completed in 2021,” added URA.

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Victor Kang, Digital Content Specialist at PropertyGuru, edited this story. To contact him about this or other stories, email victorkang@propertyguru.com.sg