Condo resale prices rise 1.8% in June, led by homes in prime districts

SINGAPORE - Leading the increase were homes in the core central region, where prices climbed 5.5 per cent, according to the Singapore Real Estate Exchange Property Index released on Friday. This region comprises Districts 9 to 11 - covering Orchard, Newton, Bukit Timah - as well as Sentosa and the downtown areas near the Central Business District.

Get the full story from The Straits Times.

Here is the report released on the Singapore Real Estate Exchange website:

June 2013 Non-landed Private Residential Resales:

Based on the SRX Property Index (SPI), resale prices of non-landed private residential units showed an overall increase of 1.8 per cent in June 2013.

Core Central Region (CCR) and Rest of Central Region (RCR) prices increased 5.5 per cent and 0.5 per cent respectively. However, Outside Central Region (OCR) experienced a price decline of 0.2 per cent.

Resale transaction volume remained relatively low. An estimated 605 non-landed units were transacted in the month of June, 21 per cent less than May's volume of 762 units. The estimated 605 units transacted in June 2013 represents a decrease of approximately 38 per cent when compared with that of June 2012. (There were 981 non-landed resale cases in June 2012.)

Non-landed Private Residential Rental:

Based on the non-landed residential rental SPI sub-index, overall rental prices for non-landed private residential in June 2013 slipped 0.2 per cent from May, marking a fifth consecutive monthly drop in overall rents.

On a regional basis, rental prices in the CCR dropped 1.6 per cent, while RCR and OCR's rents increased 0.4 per cent and 0.5 per cent respectively.

HDB Resale and Rental:

In June 2013, overall HDB Cash-Over-Valuation (COV) dropped $3,000 to end at $24,000, falling below the previous COV trough of $25,000 observed in both February and April 2012. This is also the lowest monthly COV since February 2011, when the overall COV was at $22,000.

Overall HDB resale prices slipped by 0.1 per cent in June, marking the second consecutive marginal monthly drop in resale prices.

According to flash estimates, 1,210 HDB flats were sold in the resale market in June, approximately 9 per cent less than May's 1,324 resale cases, and about 32 per cent less than that of June 2012. (There were 1,790 HDB resale flats transacted in June 2012).

An estimated 1,410 HDB flats were rented in June 2013, 9 per cent less than May's 1,554 rental transactions, and slightly less than the 1,480 flats rented in June 2012.