The bottom is finally in sight for Singapore’s private home market: CBRE

Prices might tick up as early as 2018.

After nine consecutive quarters of price and sales declines, CBRE Research said that Singapore’s private property market might finally be heading for the trough.

This is because unsold supply is finally running low while prices have reached an equilibrium.

As sales slowed, developers become laden with a rising inventory of uncompleted and completed unsold units. At the end of 2015, the uncompleted unsold units stood at 23,000 units, down from nearly 27,000 units in 2014.

“Should the government relax the existing cooling measures, it maystoke buying interest. When that happens, the window of opportunity will narrow and prices might see some upside as early as 2018, led by the prime segment,” said the report.

“Softening prices in the Core Central Region has narrowed the premium it used to command over Rest of Central Region and Outside Central Region. The softening prices of prime homes present a window of opportunity for investors looking for good buys in this segment,” CBRE added.