Home Prices Keep Tumbling (28 Dec 2008)

Even if developers beg to differ, private home prices are dropping, and it will keep falling even further until next year. The figures for sold homes is going for an 18 year-low this year, to make it worse, supply is nowhere near deficient.

“In every bear market, no matter what the developers say, it will happen,” the president of the Society of Financial Service Professionals, Mr. Leong Sze Hian, said in lieu of the dropping home prices. He also added that the only indefinite is until when or how is the fall.

From first quarter’s $3,982 to third quarter’s $3,307, Manpower Ministry statistics confirms that the average monthly real earnings got knocked down by 17 percent. In addition to that, the 5.3 percent reduction that the second quarter endured is continuing to the third quarter with a fall of 6.8 percent; this includes the quarter-on-quarter basis, gross domestic product, etc.

“All these will filter through to the property market,” further explained by Mr. Leong.

At the moment, consumers are moonlighting, there are hardly any new launches, and there are only a few distressed sellers.

Mr. Nicholas Mak, Knight Frank's director of research and consultancy said, “Most are not feeling any pain from the recession yet. In the secondary market, many sellers are still hoping to do sub-sale at a profit.” He also added that there are no chief price cutbacks so far.