Chart of the Day: Home supply will hit 7,893 in 2018

But it won't be enough to hit the peak levels in 2016 and 2017.

This chart from RHB Research shows private home supply hit its peak in 2016 and 2017, with nearly 20,516 and 16,898 homes completed respectively, compared to the 10-year average of 11,472 units.

According to their forecast, the supply in 2018 and 2019 is expected to hit 7,893 and 8,696 units respectively.

This compares favourably with the 10-year average demand of 9,978 units. Vacancy rates remained high at 8.4% in 3Q2017.

The rates are projected to remain stable as "the market digests the completed supply that came onstream over the last one year."

RHB analyst Vijay Natarajan said, "Overall, we expect rents to stay flat and vacancy rates to remain elevated at around 8-9% for 2018. The weak rental market and increase in interest rates are potential bugbears to a smooth recovery in the residential market in our view.