Singapore Home Prices Drop, Annual Gains Slide

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Residential property prices fell during the fourth quarter, decreasing annual gains, providing further proof of effects from property curbs aimed at cooling Asia's second-most expensive housing market. 

Overall private residential property prices fell 0.8 percent in the fourth quarter, compared to a 0.4 percent increase the previous quarter, according to preliminary data from the Urban Redevelopment Authority. 

Home prices increased by 1.2 percent in 2013, lower than the 2.8 percent gain recorded in 2012, the data shows. 

Surging home prices and low interest rates prompted the government to increase a campaign that started in 2009 to curb the property market for fear of a housing bubble. 

New measures introduced in the summer aim to govern how financial institutions grant loans to buyers, as well as increase down payments. 

"The loan measures have been very effective, it has cut off financing for home purchases," David Neubronner, national director at broker Jones Lang LaSalle Inc.'s residential project sales in Singapore, told Bloomberg. "The government has achieved what it set out to do."

Home sales in Singapore plunged 48 percent, marking the fourth month of declines following the government measures. 

Today's data shows price declines for various regions during the fourth quarter. In Core Central Region, prices decreased 2.2 percent, higher than the 0.3 percent decline the previous quarter. 

More significantly, prices in Outside Central Region dropped 0.6 percent during the fourth quarter, marking the first decline since the second quarter of 2009. This compares to a 2.2 percent increase the previous quarter.