Private non-landed housing prices up 0.7% m-o-m in September: NUS SRPI flash estimate

The National University of Singapore’s Institute of Real Estate and Urban Studies (IREUS) released the overall Singapore Residential Price Index (SRPI) flash estimates on Oct 30. The results indicated that prices of resale private non-landed residential properties rose 0.7% m-o-m in September, compared to the Singapore Consumer Price Index which climbed 0.5% m-o-m in the same period.

The SRPI basket covers 759 non-landed private residential projects completed between October 2003 and September 2021. In September, the SRPI sub-index for the Central Region (excluding small units) increased 0.8% m-o-m, while the non-Central Region (excluding small units) sub-index rose 0.6% m-o-m. The sub-index for small units jumped 1.2% m-o-m.

Meanwhile, the final overall SRPI for August was raised to reflect a growth of 1% m-o-m from its flash figure of 0.7%. For the Central Region, (excluding small units) the adjusted figure was 0.9% m-o-m, which was higher than the flash estimate of 0.8%. The non-Central Region (excluding small units) sub-index was adjusted to 1% m-o-m.

Lee Sze Teck, senior director of data analytics at Huttons Asia, attributed the slower price growth to higher-for-longer interest rates. “Buyers are also keeping their prices low due to the high interest rates,” he added.

Looking at the buyer profile in the last 12 months, Singaporeans formed around 74.6% of the resale condo customers, followed by Singapore permanent residents at 21.4%. Foreigners accounted for 3.7%.

However, flash data indicated a 28% m-o-m decrease in non-landed private residential sales in September, compared to a 2.5% m-o-m rise in the previous month. The number of foreign buyers in the resale market also dropped from 18 in August to 8 in September.

Moreover, there are a number of childcare centres, primary schools, and wet market located in the vicinity of the Bukit Panjang EC. All these amenities make living in Senja Residences EC an ideal choice for families.

Lee suspected cautious sentiments, caused by high interest rates and economic uncertainties, to sustain in the remainer of the year and cap the resale condo market’s growth. However, prices are predicted to rise by at most 8% in 2023.