Singapore private property prices dip as demand falls

Rentals of private residential properties have also fallen on a similar scale,

Prices of private property in Singapore fell 3.7 per cent in 2015, following on a 4 per cent decline in 2014, the latest data showed.

Rentals of private residential properties have also fallen on a similar scale, according to data released by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA). The rental decline in 2015 was to the tune of 4.6 per cent.

In the fourth quarter of the previous year private property prices recorded a 0.5 percent decline, making it the longest losing streak in 17 years.

The price decline has happened in tandem with a fall in property demand. Developers offered 1,333 private residential units for sale in the last quarter of 2015, down from 2,435 units in the previous quarter.

Home sales dipped to 1,603 units compared with 2,410 units in the previous quarter.

However, in the full year, as many as 7,440 units were sold, compared with 7,316 units in 2014.

In yet another sign of a cooling of the Singapore property market, it has emerged that more than 100 property agencies shut their business and over 3,500 agents have left the industry in 2015.

Records with the Council for Estate Agencies (CEA) showed that there were 1,369 estate agents and 29,262 registered salespersons working in the industry last year.

Earlier, a Reuters report had said foreign buying in Singapore residential properties had also cooled of late.

The number of foreigners who bought homes in Singapore dwindled last year to the lowest level since the global economic slowdown in the last decade.

Even the Chinese home buyers who form the major portion of foreign home buyers in Singapore, were less inclined in the last quarter, Reuters has reported citing the latest data.

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