SINGAPORE: More than 900 general practitioner (GP) clinics will remain open during the Chinese New Year holidays, the Ministry of Health (MOH) announced on Thursday (Jan 23).

Between Friday and Monday, 949 GP clinics will be open at various times, said the ministry in a press release.

A complete list of the clinics with their operating hours can be found on the MOH website. They include 15 24-hour clinics spread across the island. 

Those who feel unwell during the festive period should visit one of these clinics for “minor, self-limiting conditions”, the health ministry said.

People should seek treatment at hospitals’ accident and emergency departments only for serious or life-threatening emergencies such as chest pain, breathlessness and uncontrollable bleeding, it added.

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“MOH would also like to take this opportunity to remind the public to eat in moderation and continue exercising regularly to stay healthy over the holiday period,” it said.

SINGAPORE: More Housing Board resale flats were sold in 2019 compared to the year before, although prices remained largely unchanged, official figures released on Thursday (Jan 23) showed.

The number of resale flats exchanging hands rose 2.7 per cent to 23,714 last year, compared with 23,099 flats in 2018, according to data released by the Housing and Development Board (HDB).

The resale price index, which provides information on the general price movements in the resale public housing market, rose 0.1 per cent last year.

“The HDB resale market staged a surprising turnaround last year as prices of flats rebounded and sales volume rose higher last year,” said Ms Christine Sun, head of research and consultancy at OrangeTee & Tie.

“The cumulative effect of multiple policies seemed effective in mitigating further price falls arising from the concerns surrounding the lease depreciation of older flats and the increasing supply of flats,” she said, citing greater flexibility in using CPF to buy older flats and an enhanced CPF housing grant.

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Between October and December, resale prices rose 0.5 per cent from the previous quarter, while 6,339 flats were sold, up 1.2 per cent from the July to September quarter.

HDB data also showed that the number of flats rented out rose by 0.6 per cent, from 12,006 in the third quarter to 12,079 flats in the October to December period.

As of Dec 31, there were 57,224 flats rented out, an increase of 1.3 per cent from the previous quarter.

HDB will launch 3,000 Build-to-Order (BTO) flats in Sembawang and Toa Payoh in February, its first sale exercise this year.

There will be no Re-Offer of Balance Flats (ROF) exercise in February as the public housing authority said it is “reviewing its sale processes for balance flats to better serve the needs of home buyers”.

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In May, it will launch about 3,700 BTO flats in Choa Chu Kang, Pasir Ris, Tampines and Tengah. Of these, the flats in Choa Chu Kang have a shorter waiting time, said HDB.

HDB has said it plans to launch about 16,000 to 17,000 new flats this year.

SINGAPORE: Private home prices in Singapore rose 2.7 per cent last year, led by the landed property segment, data from the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) showed on Thursday (Jan 23).

The figure beat an initial estimate of 2.5 per cent, but the pace of growth slowed compared to 2018, when prices of private homes spiked by 7.9 per cent.

Prices of landed homes increased 5.7 per cent, while those of non-landed properties rose by 1.9 per cent.

Overall, private home prices rose for three out of the last four quarters, inching up 0.5 per cent in the October to December period.

In the fourth quarter, landed property prices rose by 3.6 per cent compared with a 1 per cent increase in the previous quarter. In the non-landed segment, prices were down 0.3 per cent, reversing the 1.3 per cent increase in the previous quarter.

Those in the Core Central Region (CCR) fell the most by 2.8 per cent, while those in the Rest of Central Region (RCR) fell by 1.3 per cent. However, those in the Outside Central Region (OCR) increased by 2.8 per cent.

RENTALS UP 1.4%

Rentals of private homes rose 1.4 per cent last year, compared with a 0.6 per cent increase in 2018, led by an increase in rentals of non-landed properties.

In the fourth quarter, rentals were down by 1 per cent, compared with a 0.1 per cent increase in the previous quarter.

Both segments saw quarter-on-quarter decreases, with rentals of landed properties decreasing by 1.6 per cent, while rentals of non-landed properties decreased by 0.9 per cent.

MORE NEW UNITS LAUNCHED

For the whole of 2019, developers launched 11,345 uncompleted homes, compared with 8,769 units in the previous year.

They sold 9,912 homes in the year, compared with 8,795 in 2018.

Between October and December last year, 2,226 uncompleted private homes – excluding Executive Condominiums (ECs) – were launched for sale, compared with 3,628 units in the previous quarter. The bulk of the new launches were in the OCR region.

A total of 2,443 units, excluding ECs, were sold, down from the 3,281 units in the previous quarter. 

Homes in the suburbs proved the most popular with buyers, who purchased 1,123 units in the OCR region.

In the secondary market, 8,949 homes were sold last year, compared with the 13,009 resale transactions in 2018.

There were 2,342 resale transactions in the fourth quarter, compared with the 2,378 units in the previous quarter.

Resale transactions accounted for 48 per cent of all sale transactions between October and December, compared with 41.3 per cent in the previous quarter.

IN THE PIPELINE

As of end-December, there were 49,173 uncompleted private homes and 3,192 ECs in the pipeline with planning approvals. Of these, 32,272 units remained unsold.

Based on the expected completion dates reported by developers, 6,922 units (including ECs) will be completed in 2020. Another 10,579 units (including ECs) will be completed in 2021.