Private home prices down 0.7% in Q1: URA

Prices of landed homes rose 1.1% and reversed the 1.1% decline of private condo prices.

Prices of private homes dipped 0.7% in Q1 2019, extending the 0.1% drop in the previous quarter, the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) revealed.

Prices of landed homes rose by 1.1%, marking a recovery from the 2.0% dip in Q4 2018. Meanwhile, prices of private condos dipped 1.1%, compared with the 0.5% increase in the previous quarter.

Prices of private condos declined in the Core Central Region (CCR) and Rest of Central Region (RCR) by 3.0% and 0.7%, respectively. Prices of private condos in the Outside Central Region (OCR) grew 0.2%.

Rentals increased by 1% in Q1, reversing the 1% decline in the previous quarter. Overall rentals for rental properties rose 0.2%, whilst rentals for private condos rose 1.1%.

Rentals of private condos in CCR and OCR rose by 1.6% and 1.7%, respectively. Rentals in RCR fell 0.3%.

Developers were able to launch 2,989 uncompleted private residential units (excluding executive condominiums) for sale in Q1, which is 80.39% higher compared with the 1,657 units launched in the previous quarter. A total of 1,838 private residential units were sold.

Whilst no EC units were launched for sale in Q1, there were 10 EC units sold from previous launches over the period. In comparison, developers sold 29 EC units in the previous quarter despite no new EC unit launches.

Resales and sub-sales
Resale transactions rose 5.73% from 1,971 units in Q4 2018 to 1,858 units in Q1 2019. They comprised 49.6% of all sale transactions, compared with 51.1% in the previous quarter.

Sub-sale transactions fell 11.32% from 53 to 47. They accounted for 1.3% of all sale transactions, compared with 1.4% in the previous quarter.

URA also revealed that the total supply of uncompleted private residential units (excluding ECs) continued to grow from 51,498 units in Q4 2018 to 53,284 in Q1. Of this number, 36,839 units remained unsold as at the end of the quarter.

Taking the 3,519 EC units in the pipeline into consideration, supply is larger at 56,803 units. Of the EC units in the pipeline, 1,871 units remained unsold. In total, 38,710 units with planning approvals (including ECs) remained unsold, up from 35,649 units in the previous quarter.

Unsold units in the pipeline
Based on the expected completion dates reported by developers, 7,745 units (including ECs) will be completed in the remaining three quarters of 2019. Another 4,859 units (including ECs) will be completed in 2020.

Apart from the 38,710 unsold units (including ECs) with planning approval, there is a potential supply of 5,200 units (including ECs) from Government Land Sales (GLS) sites and awarded en bloc sale sites that have not been granted planning approval yet.

They comprise about 4,700 units from awarded GLS sites and Confirmed List sites that have not been awarded yet and about 500 units from awarded en-bloc sale sites.

Stock and vacancy
The stock of completed private residential units (excluding ECs) increased by 953 units, significantly lower than the increase of 3,165 units in the previous quarter. The stock of occupied private residential units (excluding ECs) increased by 1,192 units, 74.50% lower than the increase of 4,674 units in the previous quarter.

As a result, the vacancy rate of completed private residential units (excluding ECs) fell to 6.3% from 6.4% in the previous quarter.

The recorded vacancy rates of completed private residential properties in CCR, RCR and OCR were 7.6%, 6.8% and 5.4% respectively, compared with the 7.9%, 7.4% and 5.1% in the previous quarter.