Daily Briefing: New private home sales to rise to 9,000 units; Resale condo prices flat in January

And here's what it means to declare bankruptcy in Singapore.

There are signs that Singapore’s private residential market may have bottomed out in 2016, with the sector recording a higher deal volume, revealed Edmund Tie & Co. Citing data from the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA), the property consultancy noted that the combined sales of new and resale private homes increased sharply by 15.5 percent to 16,378 units last year from 14,183 units in 2015. Specifically, transactions in the primary market rose marginally to 7,780 units from 7,703 previously. Read more here.

Prices of resale non-landed residential properties in Singapore remained flat in January from the previous month, revealed latest flash estimates from the NUS Singapore Residential Price Index (SRPI). Excluding small units, private home prices in the central region rose by 0.7 percent in the month, after dropping by 0.3 percent in December. Read more here.

The easy availability of credit in Singapore often puts individuals in a situation where they are unable to repay their debts on time. In most instances, the delay is remedied soon enough. You may have to pay late fees or overdue interest along with the loan instalment that you had missed or the credit card bill that you had neglected to pay. But some people get overwhelmed by the debts that they have taken and find that they simply cannot keep up with repayments. This usually happens when a person incurs large losses in a business venture or in the event of a loss of employment. Click here to find out more.