SINGAPORE - Resale prices of private non-landed homes in Singapore increased in November, after three straight months of declines after property cooling measures were introduced in July, flash estimates by real estate portal SRX Property showed on Tuesday (Dec 11).

( Buying activity in the resale market remains lacklustre, with about 662 units resold in November, a 4.6 per cent decline from the 694 units in October.)

Condominiums and private apartment resale prices strengthened by 0.2% last month from October. This follows the 0.3% drop in October, a figure revised from an earlier estimated decline of 0.4%. Before August, resale prices had an unbroken 12-month run to new highs. Now, year on year, they are still up by 8.8% from November 2017 but are down 0.7% from its peak in July when the additional property curbs were announced. Buying activity in the resale market continued to remain lacklustre. About 662 units were resold in November, a 4.6% decline from the 694 units in October. Resale volume compared with a year ago was 55.4% lower than the 1,483 units moved in November 2017.

Orange Tee & Tie's head of research and consultancy Christine Sun said that the resale market has yet to reach market equilibrium because of a mismatch in price expectations between buyers and sellers.

She said: "Buyers were largely waiting on the sidelines as they are probably expecting prices to soften after the cooling measures. Some sellers, on the other hand, have raised their asking prices, possibly taking the cue from recent developers" new sales where some projects reached new benchmark prices for their locations.

"There is a fair bit of latent demand in the market and it is expected to build up in the coming months. If sales volume remains thin, some genuine sellers may start reducing their asking prices and this could present good buying opportunities for long-term investors."

SRX data also showed that the premium that buyers were prepared to pay over market value fell in November. SRX's overall median transaction over X-value (TOX) dropped to negative $10,000 last month, down from $4,000 in October and $1,000 in September. The TOX was zero in August and stood at $4,000 in July. TOX measures how much a buyer is overpaying or underpaying on a property based on SRX Property's computer-generated market value.

District 21's Upper Bukit Timah and Ulu Pandan posted the highest median TOX of $22,000, followed by District 22's Jurong with $20,000, among districts with more than 10 resale transactions. District 10's Bukit Timah, Holland Road and Tanglin posted the lowest median TOX of negative $150,000, followed by District 9's Orchard, Cairnhill and River Valley, and District 20's Bishan and Ang Mo Kio at negative $40,000.

"Adapted from The Straits Times, 11 Dec 2018."