Resale prices of non-landed private homes rose for the fifth straight month in March to hit a 2½-year high, according to data out yesterday.
Flash estimates put SRX Property’s private resale index at 168.8 last month, the highest since September 2014.
In other bullish indicators, the number of units sold improved by over 50 per cent from February while buyers hiked their asking prices from below perceived market rates, where they had been languishing for many months.
Private resale prices climbed 0.5 per cent in March from April, easing though from the upwardly revised rise of 1.1 per cent in February. Prices rose 1 per cent in January, 0.3 per cent in December and 0.6 per cent in November last year.
Resale prices last month were 2.2 per cent higher than in March 2016, though still down by 5.5 per cent from their recent peak in January 2014.
Prices again increased across all locations, rising 0.4 per cent month on month in prime districts, 0.7 per cent on the city fringes and 0.4 per cent in outlying areas.
An estimated 1,058 units changed hands in March, up 51.8 per cent from the 697 units resold in February.
Resale volume last month was 77.5 per cent higher than the 596 units resold in March 2016 but still down 48.4 per cent from its peak of 2,050 units in April 2010.
This article by The Straits Times was published in The New Paper, a free newspaper published by Singapore Press Holdings.
