New housing supply to ease prices further
As per new housing data, a record number of unfinished private homes are now in the works on the back of the government's numerous land roll-outs in recent years. Analysts believe the move is attaining its goal of cooling property prices.
They say that private home prices may flatten or even fall against this backdrop after having sharply moderated in the three months to 31 December across the commercial, residential and industrial sectors.
Since 2009, the first segment to experience falling prices were semi-detached homes.
URA data just released has revealed that 77,089 uncompleted homes were supplied as of 31 December, the highest number since 1999.
The number of unsold homes is still steadily climbing. In Q4 2011, for instance, there were 17,084 uncompleted homes that were unsold in launch-ready projects, up 23 percent from a year earlier. In the same period, unsold units in launched projects had also climbed by 58 percent to 5,584 units.
However, this is still a far cry from 1998's downturn levels, when almost 9,000 units at launched projects were unsold in Q1 1998, noted Ong Teck Hui, Head of Research and Consultancy at Credo Real Estate.
But Eugene Lim, Key Executive Officer at ERA Realty, believes the big number of upcoming homes will create an impact. Related Stories: Home prices to slide this year: PropNex
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