Private home prices continued to fall for a 14th consecutive quarter, shedding 0.5% q-o-q in 1Q2017, according to the Urban Redevelopment Authority's (URA) latest flash estimates. It was the same rate of decline as the previous quarter.

Prices of non-landed homes in Core Central Region (CCR) was back in the red with a 0.2% decline in 1Q2017 as opposed to a 0.1% increase in 4Q2016. Those in Rest of Central Region (RCR) remained unchanged in 1Q2017, following a 2.0% dip in 4Q2016. In Outside Central Region (OCR), prices bucked the trend, inching up 0.1% in 1Q2017, after a 0.6% decline in 4Q2016.

"The buoyant OCR primary market helped to firm prices in the suburban non-landed market in 1Q2017," says Ong Teck Hui, national director of research and consultancy at JLL.

Ong expects positive buying sentiments seen in the first quarter to continue with the market remain upbeat. "Healthy sales volume would eventually lead to prices stabilising especially in the non-landed market although short term fluctuations in the indices may be expected," adds Ong.

In the public housing segment, prices of resale flats fell for second consecutive quarter with a 0.6% decline in 1Q2017, following a 0.1% q-o-q dip in 4Q2016.

"This could possibly be an one off occurrence," according to Eugene Lim, key executive officer at ERA Realty Network. He notes that the main cause could be the low volume of resale transactions seen over the January and February period due to the Chinese New Year season.

Lim remains optimistic that the HDB resale market has largely stabilised. He expects HDB resale transaction volume to increase to about 22,000 to 23,000 units in 2017, with prices edging up slightly by 0.1% to 0.5% for the full year.

In May 2017, HDB will roll out about 4,600 Build-To-Order (BTO) flats Woodlands, Yishun, Bidadari and Geylang. HDB also plan to offer about 3,000 balance flats.