Overall private home prices rose 3.4% in the third quarter of this year, the 10th consecutive quarterly increase. Resale prices for HDB homes as a whole also rose for the 10th consecutive quarter, up 2.4% in the third quarter.

The Urban Redevelopment Authority's third quarter real estate forecast data released on October 3 showed that the overall private home price index was 187.1, up 3.4% from 180.9 in the second quarter of the year, slightly lower than the 3.5% increase in the second quarter.

Non-landed private home prices continued to increase, rising 4.1% in the third quarter from a year earlier, up from 3.6% in the second quarter.

Prices continued to rise across the board for all categories of non-landed private housing, with private housing outside of OCR, which represents mass-market private housing, accelerating to a 7% year-over-year increase.

CCR private home prices, representing upscale private homes, rose 2.3%.

Prices for RCR other private homes, representing mid-range private homes, slowed to a 2.5% increase.

For landed private homes, prices rose 1.2% YoY, a lower rate than the 2.9% increase in the previous quarter.

Overall private homes rose 7.8% in the first three quarters of the year, up from a 5.3% increase in the same period last year.

Popular private homes launched in the third quarter, such as Lentor Modern, AMO Residence and Sky Eden@Bedok, achieved good sales right out of the gate, supporting the overall price increase in private housing.

The overall real estate market is approaching a turning point due to the economic slowdown and rising cost of living and loan interest rates.

The real estate market will gradually enter the slow season at the end of the year.

New private home sales are forecast to drop sharply in the fourth quarter, while sales for the year as a whole are expected to fall about 39% to 8,000 units, with prices likely to rise 8%, down from last year's 10.6% increase.

Developers will launch eight private residential projects with a total of 829 units, and supply will be 64 percent lower than a year ago and 36.2 percent lower than the 1,299 in the third quarter.

Those most affected by tighter lending regulations account for about 40% of total OCR private home sales, but the new regulations will not immediately affect the prices of OCR projects opening in the fourth quarter, with average prices expected to remain around $2,000.

Developers may have to adjust their marketing strategies, but there is not much room for price reductions as construction and land costs are still high and profit margins are low for mass market projects, especially for EC projects, which generally rely on high sales to support profit performance.

As for the two new ECs, one in the east and one in the west, there is not much competition between them.