Private home prices rise for 2nd straight quarter; Barclays raises concerns
U.K multinational investment bank, Barclays believes that government could act swiftly and more cooling measures may be coming.
According to flash estimates from the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA), the private home price index in Singapore has risen by 0.9 percent from 2Q 2019 to 3Q 2019.
In fact, private home prices have resisted an economic slowdown and rose for the 2nd consecutive quarter.
Non-landed private residential properties lead the way with a 1.7 percent price surge in 3Q 2019 from 2Q 2019, following a 2 percent rise from 1Q to 2Q 2019.
However, landed home prices have continued to fall by 2.2 percent in the 3rd quarter, following a dip of 0.1 percent in 2Q 2019.
Other than that, the increase in home prices has been recorded in all sectors across the island.
In the high-end non-landed private residential segment, prices rose by 2.9 percent q-o-q (quarter-on-quarter). From 1Q 2019 to 2Q 2019, prices rose by 2.3 percent.
Analysts believe that the revival of home prices in the luxury segment has been fuelled by the sales of various new projects.
They include the likes of Marina One Residences, Boulevard 88, 8 St Thomas, Martin Modern, and Nouvel 18, etc.
Mr. Brian Tan, the regional economist of Barclays mentioned that the current sentiments in the property market may not be a true reflection of the ongoing economic outlook.
The government may likely view the current conditions in the real estate market as ‘out-of-sync’ as the Ministry of Trade and Industry has recently downgraded the country’s GDP forecast range for the second time in 2019 from 1.5 to 2.5 percent, to 0 to 1 percent.
Thus, Mr. Tan suggested that the chances are high for the Singapore government to act swiftly and consider implementing more property cooling measures.
He has also added that similar measures (as the previous) such as lowering the LTV limit and tightening the TDSR framework may be possible as they have proven to be the most effective in the previous rounds of implementation.
Property consultants noted that while Singapore’s property market continues to be influenced by global interest and forces, the local population growth, rise in household income and healthy employment rates will remain as the key drivers for both demand and property prices in the long run.