Resale prices for Singapore's non-landed private homes drop 0.8 pct in August

Resale prices for Singapore's non-landed private homes dropped 0.8 percent in August compared with the previous month, according to estimates released by Singapore Real Estate Exchange (SRX Property) on Tuesday.

SRX Property said resale prices for private homes in city fringe and suburban area recorded a decrease of 1.5 percent and 0.7 percent month-on-month respectively. On the contrary, resale prices for private homes in downtown area edged up 0.1 percent compared with that in July.

On a year-on-year basis, resale prices in August decreased by 0.8 percent compared with that in August 2015. For individual sectors, resale prices for private homes in city fringe and suburban area recorded a decrease of 2.9 percent and 1.9 percent respectively. While resale prices for private homes in downtown area posted an increase of 4.6 percent year-on-year. When compared with the peak in January 2014, resale prices in August were down 7.8 percent.

As for resale volume, an estimated 817 non-landed private residential units were resold in August, a 5.3 percent increase compared with 776 units resold in July.

On a year-on-year basis, resale volume in August was 59.3 percent higher compared to 513 units resold in the same period last year, said SRX Property. Resale volume was down by 60.1 percent compared to its peak of 2,050 units resold in April 2010.

Overall median Transaction Over X-Value (TOX), which measures whether people are overpaying or underpaying the SRX Property X-Value estimated market value, decreased from -10,000 Singapore dollars (-7,458 U.S. dollars) in July to -11,000 Singapore dollars (-8,089.4 U.S. dollars) in August.

Private homes are those developed by private developers. About 80 percent of the resident households in Singapore live in public housing units built and sold by the government. Private homes are typically more expensive than public housing units. Endit