Private home prices in Singapore rose for the fifth straight quarter but at a much slower pace, dampening speculation of another round of property curbs in the near future. The 0.9% price gain in the three months to June from the previous quarter follows an increase of 3.3% in the first quarter and 2.1% in the fourth quarter of last year. Year on year, prices are up 7.3%.

The slower growth in prices, coupled with lower transaction volumes as some developers delayed new launches in the face of phase two (heightened alert) restrictions, which limited group sizes to two people, dampened overall price growth in the second quarter. Another factor is the possibility of interest rates rising, which will have a cooling effect on housing demand and prices, said Lee Nai Jia, deputy director of the Institute of Real Estate and Urban Studies at the National University of Singapore.