House prices up by 5.7% during the year to Q3 2022

Surprisingly, Singapore’s house prices continue to rise, despite falling property demand. The nationwide real house prices rose by 5.7% y-o-y in Q3 2022, following annual increases of 3.73% in Q2 2022, 2.22% in Q1 2022, 6.4% in Q4 2021 and 4.8% in Q3 2021. On a quarterly basis, real house prices increased 2.27% during the latest quarter. 

Singapore’s house prices rose by almost 20% (inflation-adjusted) from 2016 to 2021, after falling by almost 10% in the three years prior.

Demand is now falling

In the first three quarters of 2022, total home sales, which include new sales, sub-sales and resales, fell 28.6% y-o-y to 18,302 units, in sharp contrast to a huge 60.5% increase during 2021, according to figures released by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA).

There were a total of 386,953 housing units available in Singapore in Q3 2022, up by 0.4% from the previous quarter, according to URA. Of which 365,055 units are occupied, while the remaining 21,898 units are available, making up a 5.7% vacancy rate, up from 5.4% in the previous quarter.

Rents, rental yields: yields are poor in Singapore at 3.3%

Recent news. Singapore’s economy grew by 4.1% year-on-year in Q3 2022, following annual expansions of 4.5% in Q2 2022, 3.9% in Q1 2022 and 6.1% in Q4 2021, buoyed by strong growth in construction, services and wholesale and retail trade, according to the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI). On a seasonally-adjusted quarterly basis, the economy expanded by 1.1% in Q3 2022, reversing the 0.1% contraction in the previous quarter.

The MTI expects the overall economy to grow by 3.5% this year, but uncertainty remains high due to persistent inflation, disruptions from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and global economic slowdown. The economy grew strongly by 7.6% during 2021, a strong rebound from a 4.1% contraction in 2020.