Singapore’s house prices continue to rise

Singapore is still seeing a rise in property prices, despite recent cooling measures to try and slow the market, according to a report by iExpats.com.

Experts at Credit Suisse predict that prices could increase by 8% more up to 2017, owing to demand and low interest rates – they have already risen by 56% since the global financial crisis began.

The majority of last year’s increases occurred in the second half of the year, with private property prices in the last quarter contributing to over 50% of the rise.

Prices also tend to vary with location - “prices in the central region are leading the growth, and we expect this to continue because land prices are high for new properties,” said PropNex Realty.
The firm predicts that prices will increase by 4-5% this year, with private suburban home values rising by as much as 10%.

Figures by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) showed that prices are increasing at their fastest rate since mid-2011.

Indeed, real estate firm Jones Lang LaSalle found gains of between 2% and 15.8% per quarter from autumn 2009 up to summer 2011.

A spokesman at the firm told iExpats that in comparison to these, current price increases look tame, but strong.

“They look robust when viewed against the cooling measures imposed by the government and the poor economic environment of the global and local economies,” he said.

The government has introduced cooling measures six times in the last three years in a bid to control property prices, and looks set to enforce even more.

Jones Lang LaSalle predicts that new policy measures will help reduce property increases to 2-4%.

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