SINGAPORE—Private home sales fell by 0.3 per cent while resale prices of public housing slipped by 0.1 per cent in the second quarter of the year, showed data by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) and the Housing Development Board (HDB) respectively, released on Monday.

Pointing to the lowest dip in home prices since the fourth quarter of 2013, analysts saw the easing of prices as a sign of moderation in the real estate sector, and indicative of the market “bottoming out”.

“With the lowest dip in the last 15 quarters, this is a clear sign that the private property market is consolidating, with strong volume of transactions witnessed thus far this year. With aggressive land bids and the positive sentiment we expect prices to grow positively by next year,” said Mr Ismail Gafoor, CEO of PropNex Realty.

Mr Ong Teck Hui, national director, research and consultancy, JLL noted that the latest figures are “indicative of a further moderation in price decline and the market heading closer to the bottom. It is likely to be read positively by the market and have a favourable effect on buyers.”

Flash estimates by the URA showed that the private residential property index fell 0.4 point from 136.7 points in the first quarter to 136.3 points in the second quarter. This represents a decline of 0.3 per cent compared with the 0.4 per cent decline in the previous quarter.

Properties in the core central region were most affected. Prices of non-landed private homes fell by 0.9 per cent in the core central region, compared to the 0.4 per cent fall in the previous quarter. Prices in the rest of the central region increased by 0.5 per cent, after registering an increase of 0.3 per cent in the previous quarter. Prices outside the central region decreased by 0.4 per cent after showing a 0.1 per cent increase in the previous quarter.

Mr Desmond Sim, head, CBRE Research, Singapore and South East Asia said in a statement that while the price index has demonstrated differing changes across the different market segments, “it should be noted that the price index performance each quarter can be partly attributed to new launches in each market segments. Sales figures from new launches tend to prop up the price index and at the same time contribute largely to the sales volume per quarter for each market segment as well.”

Meanwhile, prices of landed homes fell by 0.4 per cent compared to the 1.8 per cent decrease in the previous quarter.

Overall, said Mr Sim, there are “no surprises” in the flash estimate of second quarter private residential property price index. “The market is heading for a trough with the measures expected to stay put.”

“The government has recently announced that it has no intentions to relax cooling measures this year. As a result, the overall price index is expected to continue to slip gradually. For the whole of 2017, the overall private residential price index is projected to drop by 1 to 2 per cent year-on-year.”

Separately, the HDB’s flash estimates showed that resale prices for public housing eased by 0.1 per cent in the second quarter, with the resale price index falling to 133.7 over the first three months of the year.

This followed HDB resale prices falling 0.5 per cent in the first quarter as transactions fell 9.6 per cent quarter on quarter to 4,530 in the first quarter.

The HDB resale price index has been “fluctuating over the last seven quarters but with decreases predominantly which shows that prices are still on a mild downtrend. The sustained supply of new BTO flats for sale will continue to keep resale prices in check as they provide more affordable options especially for first time buyers,” said Mr Ong.

Data for the full second quarter, including more detailed public housing data, will be released on July 28.

The HDB will be offering 3,850 Build-to-Order (BTO) flats in Bukit Batok and Sengkang in August.