Chart of the Day: EC launches in 1Q15 down more than 300% from 4Q14

The private home price index continues to decline.

Singapore’s property index has been softening, and total decline from the peak in 3Q13 is now at -5.9 per cent.

According to a report by URA, developers launched 378 EC units for sale in 1st Quarter 2015 and sold 326 EC units over the same period, significantly lower than the 1,113 units sold in 4th Quarter 2014.

Developers launched 1,189 uncompleted private residential units (excluding Executive Condominiums, ECs) for sale in 1st Quarter 2015, lower than the 1,592 units in 4th Quarter 2014.

Developers sold 1,311 private residential units (excluding ECs) in 1st Quarter 2015, lower than the 1,376 units sold in 4th Quarter 2014.

Meanwhile, JLL adds that the private residential price property index continues to soften by another 1.0 per cent in 1Q15, bringing the total decline from the peak in 2013Q3 to -5.9 per cent.

Decline in prices for non-landed private homes in the Core Central Region (CCR) has slowed to 0.4 per cent from 0.9 per cent in 4Q14, while Rest of Central Region (RCR) and Outside Central Region (OCR) both had steeper falls of 1.7 per cent and 1.1 per cent in 1Q15 compared to 1.3 per cent and 0.8 per cent in 4Q14 respectively.

Analysts at JLL believe that the larger decline in the OCR is possibly due to the lack of support from HDB upgraders as resale prices and volume in the HDB market continue to soften by 1 per cent and 10.8 per cent q-o-q respectively.