Singapore private home prices fall 0.8 percent Q4 - housing authority

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Singapore's Urban Redevelopment Authority released flash estimates for the change in Singapore private home prices during the fourth quarter of 2013:

Quarter-on-quarter, percentage price change:

Quarter Q4/2013 Q3/2013 Q2/2013 Q1/2013 Q4/2012

Singapore private -0.8 +0.4 +1.0 +0.6 +1.8

home prices

CONTEXT:

- Prices of non-landed homes in the core central region fell 2.2 percent from the previous quarter. Prices in the rest of central region increased by 0.8 percent

- Outside the central region, prices fell by 0.6 percent, the first decline since Q2 2009

- For 2013 as a whole prices increased by 1.2 percent, compared to 2.8 percent in 2012

- Resale prices of government-built Housing and Development Board apartments, which house about 80 percent of Singapore's population, fell 0.7 percent in Q3 from Q2.

- The number of homes sold by developers has been falling since the central bank introduced measures in June last year to ensure that buyers' monthly mortgage payments do not exceed 60 percent of their combined incomes

- The flash estimates are compiled based on transaction prices given in caveats lodged during the first 10 weeks of the quarter, supplemented by information on new units sold by developers.

- URA will provide detailed statistics four weeks later.

(Reporting by Rachel Armstrong; Editing by Eric Meijer)