Home prices jumped 2.7% in 2019: URA

Prices of landed homes grew 5.7% for the whole year.

Prices of private homes leapt 2.7% YoY for 2019, according to the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA). For Q4 2019, prices also grew 0.5%.

Prices of landed residential properties rose by 5.7% whilst those of non-landed properties rose by 1.9%. For Q4 2019, prices of landed and non-landed properties increased by 3.6% and fell by 0.3% respectively.

For the whole of 2019, prices of non-landed properties in Core Central Region (CCR) decreased by 1.7%, whilst prices in Rest of Central Region (RCR) and Outside Central Region (OCR) increased by 2.8% and 4.2% respectively.

Home rentals
Rents also enjoyed growth in 2019, having risen by 1.4% compared to the 0.6% increase in 2018. For Q4 2019, rents dipped 1%.

Rentals of landed properties decreased by 3.4% whilst rentals of non-landed properties increased by 1.9%. For Q4 2019, rentals of landed and non-landed properties both decreased by 1.6% and 0.9%, respectively.

For the whole of 2019, rentals of non-landed properties increased by 1.4%, 2.0% and 2.7% in CCR, RCR and OCR respectively.

Launches and take-up
Developers were able to launch a total of 2,226 uncompleted private residential units for sale, excluding executive condos (ECs) in Q4 2019, compared to 3,628 units in the previous quarter.

Meanwhile, developers were able to sell 2,443 private residential units in the fourth quarter, excluding ECs, marking a decrease compared to the 3,281 units sold in the same quarter in 2018.

For the whole of 2019, developers launched 820 EC units and sold 505 EC units, compared with the 628 units launched and 1,136 units sold in 2018.

In terms of resale, there were 2,342 resale transactions in the fourth quarter, a slight decrease in the 2,378 units transacted in the previous quarter. Resale transactions accounted for 48.0% of all sale transactions in Q4.

As at the end of Q4 2019, there was a total supply of 49,173 uncompleted private residential units, excluding ECs, in the pipeline. Of the EC units in the pipeline, 2,110 units remained unsold.

The stock of occupied private residential units (excluding ECs) increased by 3,816 units in Q4 vs. a stock of 1,095 units in the previous quarter. As a result, the vacancy rate of completed private residential units (excluding ECs) decreased to 5.5% as at the end of Q4, from 6.1% in the previous quarter, noted the report.

Vacancy rates of completed private residential properties as at the end of Q4 in CCR, RCR and OCR were 6.9%, 5.8% and 4.7% respectively, compared with the 8.2%, 6.0% and 5.3% in the previous quarter.

TEE International’s head of research Christine Sun sights that despite fewer projects are set to be launched in 2020, new sales volume may still be on par with 2019’s performance given a brighter economic outlook and positive buying sentiment.

“We estimate that the new sales volume may hover between 9,000 and 10,000 units for the whole of 2020. Overall sales volume including resale and sub-sale may hit 17,000 to 19,500 units for the full year,” said Sun.

In terms of properties’ prices, developers are still expected to price their launches sensitively, given the competition for buyers and the overhang of cooling measures, according to Christine Li, head of research at Cushman and Wakefield. 

“Overall prices are expected to grow around 0-3% while rents may grow to 1-4% in 2020,” noted Li.