Will resale price stability trigger homeseekers to commit a purchase?

Prices are now on the reasonable side as they remain unchanged in Q3.

With the perceived stabilisation of the public housing market, many buyers are now on the prowl to commit a purchase.

According to ERA Real Estate Key Executive Officer Eugene Lim, most sellers will now have very realistic price expectations following the flat growth in Housing and Development Board (HDB) Resale Price Index.

"Genuine sellers know that setting an overly high price does not benefit them in any way at all. They need to price attractively in order to sell their flats and move on," he said.

To recall, resale price index have stayed flat at 134.7 points in Q3, maintaining the prices recorded since Q1 this year.

Eugene argued that most buyers nowadays use recently transacted prices published by the HDB as reference points to make their offers. In turn, this contributes to the stable prices being seen in the market.

"It is unlikely that buyers will make an offer that deviates too much from recent comparable transactions; as most of them want their purchase prices to be supported by valuation. Hence, this price stability is expected to be a continued draw for buyers with immediate housing needs to buy resale," he stated.