The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) released the flash estimate of the price index for private residential property for 4th Quarter 2014 today.

Overall, the private residential property index fell 2.1 points from 207.9 points in 3rd Quarter 2014 to 205.8 points in 4th Quarter 2014. This represents a decline of 1.0%, which is higher than the 0.7% decline in the previous quarter. This is the fifth continuous quarter of price decrease (see Annex A [PDF, 43kb]).  For the whole of 2014, prices have fallen by 4.0%.

Prices of non-landed private residential properties declined in all market segments. In Core Central Region (CCR), prices fell 0.9%, higher than the 0.8% decline in the previous quarter. Prices in Rest of Central Region (RCR) fell 1.2%, higher than the 0.4% decline in the previous quarter. In Outside Central Region (OCR), prices fell 0.9%, higher than the 0.3% decline in the previous quarter (see Annex B [PDF, 47kb]).  For the whole of 2014, prices in CCR, RCR and OCR have fallen by 4.1%, 5.2% and 2.2% respectively. Prices of landed properties fell 1.1% compared to the 1.8% decline in the previous quarter. For the whole of 2014, prices of landed properties fell by 5.2%.

The flash estimates are compiled based on transaction prices given in caveats lodged and survey data on new units sold by developers during the first ten weeks of the quarter. The statistics will be updated 4 weeks later when URA releases the full real estate statistics for 4th Quarter 2014, which captures more data on the caveats lodged and the take-up of new projects. Past data have shown that the difference between the quarterly price changes indicated by the flash estimate and the actual price changes could be significant when the change is small. The public is advised to interpret the flash estimates with caution.