Slow, stable growth for 2010 property market

Private residential prices rose by 7.3% to from 154.3 pointsto 165.5 points in the 4th Quarter 2009, according to figures released by the Urban Redevelopment Authority.

For the year 2009 as a whole, the price index has increased by 1.7%.

With that, industry experts are projecting slow and steady growth for 2010.

“URA’s price index is also showing signs of more sustainable growth,” says Mr Mohamed Ismail, CEO of PropNex, referring to the 7.3% increase in the price index to 165.5. “This is still below the previous peak of 177.5 in 2Q08, although I am confident that we will achieve that record mark by the end of 2010.”He forecasts an average growth of 3–4% per quarter in URA’s price index for 2010.“The numbers show us that there is still a demand for property, with buyers exhibiting confidence that prices will continue to hold,” he says.URA also released flash estimates of the price changes in 3 geographical regions for 4th Quarter 2009. Prices of non-landed private residential properties increased by 7.1% in the Core Central Region, 9.5% in Rest of Central Region and 5.8% in Outside Central Region in the quarter.

In comparison, for 3rd Quarter 2009, prices of non-landed private residential properties increased by 15.2% in Core Central Region, 18.5% in Rest of Central Region and 16.1% in Outside Central Region. For the year 2009 as a whole, the price index in Core Central Region has decreased by 2.0% while those in Rest of Central Region and Outside Central Region have increased by 3.1% and 11.2% respectively.

The flash estimates were compiled based on transaction prices given in caveats lodged during the first ten weeks of the quarter supplemented by information on the number of new units sold.