February Suburban home prices fall while Central region holds steady

Prices of completed private apartments and condos have slipped slightly, overall, as the government’s cooling measures made themselves felt. But those in the most posh part of town are still holding their own. This is according to a report in BT today.

Latest flash estimates for February from the NUS show a weaker month-on-month performance in price indices compared to January.

NUS’s overall Singapore Residential Price Index (SRPI) dipped 0.4% month-on-month in February, a reversal of a gain of 2.9% posted in January.

The sub-index for the Central region – home to Singapore’s choicest residential districts (1 - 4 and 9 - 11) – rose 1% month on month in February, a slower rise than the 3.1% gain recorded in January.

The sub-index for the Non-Central region (where suburban mass-market condos are located) declined 1.5% in February over the preceding month, in contrast with a 2.8% appreciation in January.

Meanwhile, prices in the Central region have risen at a faster clip in the first two months of this year since end-2010 than in the Non-Central region. This marks a reversal of last year’s pattern.

As a result, the SRPI for the Central region has finally surpassed its pre-global financial crisis peak of November 2007, albeit by just 0.1%.

NUS’s indices are produced by the university’s institute of Real Estate Studies and cover only completed non-landed private homes. The February 2011 flash estimate for the Central region index is up 4.1% from the end of last year. This is a bigger gain than the 1.3% year-to-date appreciation in the index for the Non-Central region.

The February Non-Central region index is up 18.8% from its pre-crisis peak in January 2008.

The overall SRPI has appreciated 2.5% year to date and is 11.5% higher than its November 2007 peak.

February flash estimates reflect year-on-year increases of 10.3% for the Central region, 13.1% for the Non-Central region and 11.9% for the overall index.

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