S'poreans more optimistic despite property price concerns

By Romesh Navaratnarajah: With expectations that HDB and private property prices will climb in the next half year, the property Affordability Sentiment Index (ASI) of PropertyGuru's latest Property Sentiment Survey dipped further in Q3 2012.

The study, which was done in collaboration with Blackbox Research, polled around 1,000 Singaporeans and found that 69 percent of respondents believe that HDB flat prices will rise in the next six months, up by 12 percent from the previous quarter's findings. There was also a 19 percent increase quarter-over-quarter among those expecting a hike in cash-over-valuations (COVs).

As for private homes, 64 percent expect prices to rise within the next six months, an increase from the 10 percent seen in Q2.

"Compared to a year ago, real estate market satisfaction levels are lower as evidenced by a higher proportion (26 percent compared to 20 percent in Q3 2011) of Singaporeans who are extremely dissatisfied with the current real estate climate," said Tejaswi Chunduri, Regional Analyst at PropertyGuru.

Most respondents expressed concerns over rising COVs and prices.

However, they are more optimistic with government efforts, with pessimism towards government action down 12 percent from the same period in 2011.

"Singaporeans appear to have tuned into government efforts after six rounds of cooling measures to keep property prices affordable. However, satisfaction levels in the real estate market have yet to improve as many are concerned about rising prices," Chunduri added.

Romesh Navaratnarajah, Senior Editor of PropertyGuru, wrote this story. To contact him about this or other stories email romesh@allproperty.com.sg Related Stories: URA awards Thomson Road white site at S$492.5m

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