S'pore property prices fall

S'pore property prices fall

SINGAPORE (Reuters): Singapore saw new low benchmark prices for private residential properties in the second quarter of 1998, 20 percent lower than six months ago, Jones Lang Wootton said yesterday.

It attributed the downturn in sentiment to Indonesian riots in May and a Singapore government announcement which suggested a possible downward adjustment to its economic growth forecast and hints at record high retrenchment levels.

Calls for wage restraint by the National Wage Council also added to poor market sentiment and transactions slowed significantly in May and June 1998, the property consultants said in a statement.

It said only 870 new private housing units were launched in the second quarter of 1998, about half the 1,730 launched in the first quarter.

Average values for apartments and condominiums in prime districts dropped 8.6 percent overall from S$930 per square foot in the first quarter of 1998 to S$850 psf in the second quarter, the statement said.