Private condo resale prices up 0.4% in February, according to NUS price index

The NUS Singapore Residential Price Index (SRPI) for the month of February saw a marginal 0.4% increase in prices of resale private condos from the month of January. This is the second consecutive month of increase after January’s revised 0.2% month-on-month (m-o-m) upward tick.

In February, prices for condos in the central region were up 0.5%, compared to 0.6% m-o-m decline in January. Prices for condos in the non-central region also saw a modest gain of 0.3%, after a 0.9% hike in January. Meanwhile, prices of small units (up to 506 sq ft) fell 1.1%, compared to the 0.2% increase in January.

“Given the weak rental market currently, investors who bought small units previously might find it a challenge to find tenants,” says Eugene Lim, key executive officer of ERA. “Hence, they might choose to offload their units, even at lower prices.”

Lim expects marginal fluctuations to continue in the months ahead as Singapore’s economy is expected to growth at a more modest pace of 1% to 3% for the whole of 2016. The government has reiterated that it is still too early to tweak any of the cooling measures at the Budget 2016 announcement last Thursday (March 24). Consequently, Lim foresees “little room for prices to appreciate” given the challenging environment.

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