
High-end homes hardest hit by price declines in Q3
Prices have been slipping for six straight quarters.
Trophy flats in the Core Central Region are being bypassed by stingy homebuyers in light of ongoing property cooling measures. The high-end home segment was hit hardest by price declines in the third quarter, slipping 0.9% quarter-on-quarter after declining 1.5% in 2Q.
According to Barclays, this is the sixth consecutive quarter of price declines in this segment, bringing the total decline of CCR prices to 5.8% since the peak in 1Q13.
Meanwhile, the price decline of mass market homes, proxied by the Outside Central Region, slowed to -0.2% q/q vs -0.9% in 2Q14. The price decline of mid-end homes eased to -0.1% q/q vs -0.4% in 2Q14.
“We maintain our bearish stance on Singapore residential and expect home price declines to accelerate towards the end of 2015, as a rise in interest rates coincides with peak supply and vacancy. We also note the rising risk of unsold inventory, across both high- and low-end segments. We continue to believe the government will only start unwinding measures when prices fall a cumulative steeper 10-15%, perhaps in mid-2015,” stated Barclays.