Singapore Q2 private home prices rise at a slower pace amid COVID-19 curbs

FILE PHOTO: A view of private residential apartments and public housing estates in Singapore June 13, 2016. REUTERS/Edgar Su

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Singapore's private home prices increased 0.9% in the second quarter from the previous three months, slower than the two-and- a-half-year high pace in the first quarter, preliminary data showed on Thursday.

The increase, however, still marked the fifth consecutive quarterly rise. During the second quarter, Singapore re-imposed some COVID-19 curbs, the toughest since exiting a lockdown last year, to combat a spike in local infections.

Tan Tee Khoon from property portal PropertyGuru Singapore said the quarter had started strong but coronavirus restrictions had impacted property viewings.

"Some developers have also chosen to err on the side of caution, temporarily postponing their launch-ready projects during this period," Tan said.

In the first quarter, prices increased by 3.3%, the Urban Redevelopment Authority said.

Rising property prices in the past few quarters have led to some expectations that the government will step in to cool the market.

"Today's data is pretty good, it is showing some cooling of the property price inflation, and that is exactly what policymakers want," said Bank of America Securities' economist Mohamed Faiz Nagutha.

"They have been warning about this for many months now, and so far I think the pace of growth is slowing and is comforting enough for them."

Singapore's central bank chief Ravi Menon said on Wednesday authorities were highly vigilant about a sustained increase in home prices relative to income trends, and their goal was to make sure the market did not get ahead of economic fundamentals.

However, he added that the market was not overheated currently.