Property owners targeting middle-income tenants hope to benefit from declining interest rates occasioned by reduced Government participation in the domestic market.
According to Hass Consult, a property agency, the Government led initiatives to curb bank rates in the banking sector have quickly begun to have an impact, although the uptake remains far from comprehensive.
Sakina Hassanali, Head of Marketing and Research at Hass Consult, said that there was a 2.2 per cent fall in detached house prices over the last 12 months, offset by a 6.7 per cent rise in semi-detached house prices and a 1.5 per cent increase in asking prices for apartments.
“House prices were more subdued in second quarter (Q2), held down by a dip in asking prices for top of the market detached houses. The detached house prices fell by 0.3 per cent on Q1 and 2.1 per cent on a year earlier,” Sakina said.
Sakina said that the strongest price growth continued to be for semi-detached house prices, up 3.3 per cent in Q2 and 6.7 per cent a year earlier. “Apartments, however, consolidated its price gains with a further 1.3 per cent rise in asking prices in Q2,” she said.
Rents rose more strongly for semi-detached houses, up 3.2 per cent. Demand for both buying and renting was concentrated in the mid-market, mostly in semi-detached houses and apartments.
“This reflected the stronger performance in rental yields, with semi-detached houses historically and currently, recording the strongest rental yields at 7.77 per cent in Q2. The agency yesterday unveiled the property price indices for the second quarter, revealing the rising price.
