By Getty Goh

URA released the 1Q2012 flash estimate for the Private Property Price Index (PPPI) on 2 April 2012, which showed a moderate decline for the index. Even though the drop was marginal, it was significant as it represented the first decline since the property market rebounded strongly from the 2008 Global Financial Crisis.

To the casual observer, the dip may come as a surprise. After all, there were many media reports on how strong new property sales were in the first three months of 2012. One of the local property portals even reported that private homes transaction in January 2012 was “a whopping 2,077 units compared to just 670 in December 2011”. Looking at such media reports, it would not have been too unreasonable for many people to go away with the impression that property prices were still on the rise.

Trends in the Singapore property market

Those ...