Non-landed Homes Changing Hands at Record Average Price

Prices of resale non-landed private homes continued to climb, hitting a record $1,222 per square foot (psf) on average in the first two months of the fourth quarter.

This was on the back of an improved performance from all regions here, latest data from the Singapore Real Estate Exchange showed.

Private home prices in the outside central region (OCR) rose 4.5 per cent over Q3 to $959 psf, followed by the rest of central region (RCR), which recorded a 3.3 per cent increase to $1,224 psf.

Resale prices in the core central region (CCR) were up 2.8 per cent at $1,778 psf.

Transaction volumes, too, continued to climb, rising 6 per cent to 2,483 resale transactions in the October-November period versus the first two months of the previous quarter.

However, weak rental rates caused overall gross rental yields to drop to a six-year low of 3.77 per cent in the period. Average unit monthly rents fell one per cent to $3.84 psf in the first two months of Q4, from $3.88 psf in Q3.

This was led by a 2.5 per cent drop in the RCR to $3.91 psf, where prices moderated after rising in the first three quarters in the year.

Rents in the other regions remained relatively stable compared to the previous quarter.

Meanwhile, demand for rental shoebox units was high, with 1,328 contracts signed this year. Year-to-date transaction volume for resale shoebox units came to 198.

Shoebox units continued to draw higher rental offers in the fourth quarter to achieve average unit monthly rental of $6.65 psf, up 0.6 per cent from $6.61 psf in the third quarter.

In the HDB resale market, overall cash-over-valuation (COV) hit $34,000 in the first two months of Q4. Overall COV increased to $35,000 in November from $33,000 in October.

The higher COV pushed the overall HDB median resale price to a record $455,000, up 1.1 per cent over Q3 prices.

Overall HDB median monthly rents were unchanged at $2,400.

Source: Business Times –8 December 2012