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S’pore home prices down 2% from year ago: Knight Frank
Singapore housing prices continue to fall.
Home prices in Singapore fell two percent year-on-year in Q3 2016, while most countries in the world registered strong price growth, revealed a Knight Frank report.
In fact, 44 of the 55 countries tracked in the report recorded an increase in prices, with Turkey posting the highest growth.
Housing prices in Turkey increased 13.9 percent year-on-year in Q3 2016, followed closely by New Zealand and Iceland with annual growth of 13.5 percent and 12.9 percent, respectively.
Over in the US, the expected slowdown in home prices in the run up to the presidential election failed to materialise. The 0.8 percent month-on-month rise in September was the biggest monthly rise since August 2013, contributing to an annual increase of 5.5 percent, noted the report.
“September marked a new high for US house prices, which have now exceeded their previous peak recorded in July 2006,” said Kate Everett-Allen, Partner, International Residential Research at Knight Frank.
UK house prices proved to be resilient following the EU referendum, underpinned by ultra-low mortgage rates and a lack of supply. Average house prices climbed 1.3 percent in the three months following the referendum, and 5.4 percent in the year to September.
Knight Frank also noted that resurgent home prices in China and Hong Kong have prompted new regulation and taxes to control price inflation. China’s resurgent prices are most evident in its biggest cities, where price inflation has been driven by pent-up demand and a lack of supply.
Despite dropping 5.5 percent year-on-year, home prices in Hong Kong rose 4.8 percent between June and September. Affordability concerns forced authorities to increase the stamp duty to 15 percent for residents as well as non-residents, except for first-time buyers.
Looking ahead, Knight Frank expects 2017 to be a bumpy ride both economically and politically, with stimulus coming in the form of fiscal rather than monetary policy.
“That said, low rates are likely to persist in Europe at least, but hikes in the US will result in a stronger dollar with implications for global capital flows and emerging markets,” noted the consultancy.
Romesh Navaratnarajah, Senior Editor at PropertyGuru, edited this story. To contact him about this or other stories, email romesh@propertyguru.com.sg
