Property market, prices will pick up in next few months: consultants

SINGAPORE: Property consultants are expecting private home prices to climb as much as 8.5 percent in the last quarter of this year.

And despite a sharp drop of 70 percent in the number of home sales in September, they forecast a pick-up in the coming months as more new developments are expected to be released for sale.

Colin Tan, Head of Research and Consultancy, Chesterton, said: "I think for the (last) two months they've been sort of holding back their launches. So, if they need to keep their sales moving, they would have to launch either next few months or next year. Waiting till next year may affect their bottom-line."

Some note that the fourth quarter has been particularly busy in recent years.

Tay Huey Ying, Director of Research and Consultancy, Colliers International, said: "For example in 2001, 2004, as well as 2006, the year's high – in terms of the number of units launched and sold – was actually achieved in the final quarter of the year. So for this particular quarter, we expect the developers to step up their launches after this September lull."

In numbers out on Monday, there were just 570 new units released for sale in September, down from more than 1,880 in the previous month.

But there were new highs seen for prices of units in the Hillcrest and Scotts Road areas.

Mr Tan said: "The reason why the record price for September was lower was partly because there were not many sales of high-end units. So probably in October, if the feedback is correct, we'll probably see better prices in the high-end and maybe higher prices for the month of October."

Property market watchers are expecting prices in the mass market to climb by a further 5 to 8 percent in the fourth quarter, taking the total jump of the year to between 27 and 30 percent.

For the residential market as a whole, the climb is forecast to come in at 30 to 33 percent.