Singapore, 28 Apr 2023 Prices of private homes increased by 3.3 per cent in the first quarter of 2023, accelerating from a 0.4 per cent increase in the previous quarter, according to the Urban Redevelopment Authority's statistics released on Friday (Apr 28).
Ms Christine Sun, senior vice president of research & analytics at OrangeTee & Tie, said that the higher proportion of new sales compared with the last quarter could have driven price increases in the first quarter of 2023, as new homes are usually sold at higher prices than resales.
New sales, excluding ECs, constituted 30.5 per cent of total sales in the quarter, up from 19.2 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2022.
Ms Sun said that the cooling measures on Apr 27 will probably dampen demand over the next few months, allowing more homes to be completed and housing supply to catch up.
She said new home sales may continue to recover as a number of high-profile projects were launched in the second quarter, and more are slated for launch in the coming months. Some developers may not hold back their launches as first-timers are not hit by the ABSD increase.
"When there is better market equilibrium, prices are likely to stabilise. Price gains may also slow down when demand contracts. This will benefit first-timers and HDB upgraders buying their first private homes," she said.