Singapore’s home prices are poised to fall for the first time in four years as the global coronavirus pandemic is likely to push the city state’s economy into a recession, according to Colliers International.

Prices could decline by as much as 3% this year, the property consultancy said, based on an index of new and existing properties tracked by Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA).

The expected drop is the first setback since 2016, though not the steepest in the past decade, it said.

Singapore last week unveiled a S$48 billion stimulus package to counter the slowdown triggered by the pandemic, with the government downgrading its economic forecasts to a contraction of between 1 and 4% for 2020. The economy shrank 10.6% in the first quarter, the worst in a decade.

“With the downward revision of GDP (gross domestic product) growth in 2020, we now expect property prices to decline by one to three per cent,” said Tricia Song, head of research for Singapore at Colliers. “We are likely to go into a recession.”

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Photo: The Straits Times