Private property prices in Singapore grew at a slower pace in Q1 2022, following the new property cooling measures that were rolled out in December, which have dampened the market.

According to Urban Redevelopment Authority’s (URA) flash estimate released on Friday (Apr 1), the overall price index for private homes in Singapore edged up 0.4 per cent in the first quarter of 2022 - up for the eighth consecutive quarter - but slowing significantly from the 5 per cent jump in Q4 2021 after the government rolled out property curbs in December.

Still, analysts say that demand for private homes from genuine homebuyers is expected to remain strong, with transaction volumes likely to pick up as more projects are launched for sale.

With a softening property market, analysts are cautiously optimistic about the future of the market.

Despite cooling measures instituted by the government in Q4 2021, private home prices still grew at a rate of 0.1 per cent in Q1 2022. This is down from the 0.5 per cent growth seen in Q4 2021 and a 0.2 per cent drop from Q3 2021, when prices fell 0.2 per cent.

Huttons estimates that developers launched just some 700 to 1,000 units in Q1 2022, a fraction of the 3,716 units in the corresponding quarter a year ago, while developers sold 1,800 units in Q1 2022, down roughly 49 per cent year on year. Meanwhile, ERA’s head of research, Nicholas Mak, calculates that 2,660 to 2,750 private residential units changed hands in the resale market in Q1 2022, which is 42 per cent to 44 per cent lower than Q4 2021. Tricia Song, head of research (South-east Asia) at CBRE, expects demand in the housing market to remain “relatively subdued” in Q2 2022 as buyers digest the cooling measures, though sales volumes could gain traction as attractive projects hit the market.

The property price index for private homes in Singapore grew at a slower pace of 0.2 per cent in Q1 2022, compared with the 1.2 per cent increase in Q4 2021, according to flash estimates released by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) on Tuesday (May 15).

Analysts largely attributed the lower growth rate to the impact of the latest round of cooling measures, which was implemented at the start of March.

New private home sales also slowed in Q1 2022 as developers sold 2,914 units, down from 3,772 units in Q4 2021, said OrangeTee & Tie’s head of research and consultancy Christine Sun.

Ms Sun expects prices to remain flat or rise by up to 5 per cent this year, compared with the 6.5 per cent increase for full-year 2021. “The market has already priced in the effect of the latest cooling measures and is more concerned about other economic factors such as inflation and low interest rates,” she added.