Home prices up 2% in 2Q11

According to the Urban Redevelopment Authority, the rate of price increases continued to moderate for the seventh consecutive quarter. The island-wide price index of all private residential properties rose 2.0% in Q2, down marginally from the 2.2% in the preceding quarter. Nevertheless, a new high for the price index was set at 203.0 points in Q2. Overall, home prices have risen 52.3% since bottoming in Q2/2009 and have increased 4.2% year-to-date.

By region, prices of non-landed private residential properties rose 1.6% in the CCR, 1.1% in the rest of central region and 1.7% in the OCR in Q2/2011. Prices of uncompleted homes rose the fastest in the CCR at 1.4%, followed by the OCR (0.7%) and the RCR (0.5%). A lack of luxury home supply in the long term should continue to lend support to the new luxury home prices.

As of the end of June, high-end and super-luxury home prices have already increased 1.2% and 8.8% respectively from the beginning of the year. As a result, price gaps between the current and previous price peaks in Q4/2007 closed further with high-end and super-luxury home prices being just 5.1% and 0.05% from their peak levels.