Suburban (OCR) completed condos fared better

In the private residential segment, the prices of completed, non-landed private homes in the Outside Central Region (OCR) led fourth-quarter gains, rising 5.6 per cent quarter-on-quarter in the fourth quarter last year.

In the price indices compiled by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA), the index for uncompleted homes in the OCR inched up at less than half the pace: 2.4 per cent.

The OCR covers suburbs such as Punggol, Woodlands and Jurong, where mass-market condominiums are located.


This pattern - where the rise in price was higher for resale, non-landed homes than for uncompleted ones - was generally replicated across the island in 2012.

Prices in the OCR for completed homes climbed 8.8 per cent last year, double the 4.4 per cent appreciation for uncompleted properties. This also happened in 2011, when a 10 per cent surge in completed home prices was double the 5.1 per cent rise posted for uncompleted homes.

In the Core Central Region - which includes the prime districts 9, 10 and 11, the financial district and Sentosa - URA's completed non-landed home price index rose 1.5 per cent quarter-on-quarter in Q4 2012. For uncompleted homes, the figure dipped 0.4 per cent.

For the full year 2012, completed home prices gained 3.2 per cent, against a 1.7 per cent decline for uncompleted properties.

In the Rest of Central Region, which covers city-fringe locations, prices for both completed and uncompleted homes rose an identical one per cent q-on-q in Q4. Yet, for full-year 2012 and 2011, the prices of completed non-landed properties in the region still rose more than for uncompleted ones.

URA's overall private home price index - covering both completed and uncompleted as well as landed and non-landed homes across the island - rose 1.8 per cent in Q4.

This was a bigger gain than Q3's increase of 0.6 per cent. Full-year 2012, the index appreciated 2.8 per cent, half the 5.9 per cent rise in 2011.

Source: Business Times –26 January 2013