PRIVATE residential property prices inched up 0.2 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2022 after growing 3.8 per cent in the third quarter, finishing the year with a rise of 8.4 per cent, compared to the 10.6 per cent increase in 2021. Generally, analysts are expecting a slower price growth this year.
Flash estimates released by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) on Monday (Jan 3) are based on data till mid-December. They also show a decline in private housing sales, with transaction volume falling by about 49 per cent quarter on quarter and by about 60 per cent on year on year in Q4. For the whole of 2022, sale transaction volume fell by about 36 per cent to 21,437 from 33,557 in 2021.
Analysts said the drop in Q4 sales volume is due to a dearth of launches during the holiday season and also locals going overseas as border controls were mostly eased worldwide.
Christine Sun, senior vice-president of research and analytics at OrangeTee & Tie, said that according to URA Realis data, only 666 new homes, excluding executive condominiums (ECs), were sold in Q4, down 69.1 per cent from 2,157 units sold in the preceding quarter. Resales, however, dipped only 36.4 per cent from 3,710 units to 2,360 units over the same period.
As a result, the proportion of new sales fell to as low as 21 per cent in Q4 2022 from 35.4 per cent in Q3, while resales formed the bulk of the 74.4 per cent of total sales last quarter, up from 60.9 per cent in Q3.
“Therefore, the weighted average price for the entire market may have been lowered by the higher proportion of resale transactions, as these homes are typically sold at cheaper prices than new homes,” said Sun.