Singapore private home prices jumped 10.6% in 2021, rents surged 9.9%: URA
Prices of private residential properties islandwide clocked their seventh straight quarterly growth, rising 5 per cent in the fourth quarter of last year, as economic recovery and robust demand bucked ongoing tightened pandemic-related measures.
For the whole of 2021, prices shot up 10.6 per cent from a 2.2 per cent gain in 2020, according to data from the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) on Friday (Jan 28). The figures are unchanged from URA's flash estimates released on Jan 3.
Before accelerating in the fourth quarter, private home prices grew 1.1 per cent in the third quarter, a 0.8 per cent rise in the second quarter and 3.3 per cent in the first.
However, the latest round of property cooling measures and more people taking year-end breaks overseas because of the addition of more vaccinated travel lanes took their toll on transaction volumes in the final quarter of the year.
Sales of new non-landed homes, excluding executive condominiums (ECs), dropped nearly 15 per cent in the fourth quarter to 3,018 units, from 3,550 units in the third quarter.
However, for 2021 overall, developers sold 13,027 homes, 30.5 per cent more than the 9,982 homes in 2020. This is the highest number of new home transactions since the previous record in 2013, when 14,948 units were transacted, Mr Mohan Sandrasegeran, research & content analyst, Ohmyhome noted.
Pandemic-fuelled demand coupled with a depleting housing supply drove property prices to new records last year, OrangeTee & Tie senior vice-president of research and analytics Christine Sun said.
Landed home prices climbed 3.9 per cent in the fourth quarter, compared with a 2.6 per cent gain in the second, buoyed by wealth from new-economy sectors.
Prices jumped 5.3 per cent for non-landed condominiums and apartments, compared with a mere 0.7 per cent in the third quarter.
For 2021, landed property prices surged 13.3 per cent, while those for non-landed homes jumped 9.8 per cent.
In terms of location, prime district prices rose 2.7 per cent in the fourth quarter compared with a 0.5 per cent drop in the previous quarter. Suburban prices jumped 5.7 per cent reversing a 0.1 per cent fall in the third quarter.
Prices in the city fringe or the rest of central region saw the strongest growth, gaining 6.7 per cent, compared with a 2.6 per cent rise in the previous quarter.
For 2021, prices in this market segment surged 16.3 per cent, outpacing a 3.8 per cent rise in the prime districts and a 8.8 per cent gain in the suburbs.
As for the rental market, the rise in private housing rents accelerated in the fourth quarter, as border controls eased and international air travel increased while the supply of completed homes remained tight.
Private home rents climbed 2.6 per cent, compared with a 1.8 per cent increase in the third quarter. For the whole of 2021, private home rents jumped 9.9 per cent, more than reversing the 0.6 per cent drop in 2020.
Rents of non-landed properties rose 2.7 per cent, compared with a 1.4 per cent increase in the previous quarter. Rents in the prime and city fringe areas grew 2.9 per cent and 2.8 per cent respectively, while those in the suburbs rose 2.4 per cent.
Ms Sun believes rental demand is likely to pick up further this year.
"In light of the new cooling measures, HDB flat owners who do not wish to pay the additional buyer's stamp duty (ABSD) may opt to sell their flats first before buying a new home and rent in the interim. Employment in industries decimated by the pandemic may also start picking up this year," she added.
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