SINGAPORE - Rents for private condominiums and apartments edged down 0.5 per cent in June compared to May, according to flash estimates released on Wednesday by SRX Property.

Year on year, rents in June were down 6.5 per cent from June 2014, and are 12.4 per cent lower since their peak in January 2013. They have, in fact, been falling every month since then with one exception in January this year.

Rents in May have been revised from a 0.6 per cent decrease to a 0.8 per cent drop.

Rents in the city and suburban areas declined by 0.8 per cent and 0.7 per cent respectively, while those in the city fringe areas saw no change.

Property agency ERA blamed the falling rents on "stiff competition for a limited pool of tenants, as more private residential units are completed."

"Moving forward, the downward pressure on rents are not expected to ease any time soon, given that these two years see record numbers of condominium developments being completed," it said.

SRX Property's data showed that rental volume rose slightly in June, with 3,777 units rented out, one per cent up from the 3,739 units in May.

Year on year, rental volume in June was 15.4 per cent higher than the 3,273 units for June 2014.

ERA said credited the rise in rental volume, not to new demand but rather to existing tenants moving for better quality units or cheaper rents.

It said: "Over the last 2 years, we have seen increasingly more tenants signing 12 months leases rather than the traditional 24 months. They have been doing so because rents are on the decline due to the supply glut as more and more new units are being completed.

Moving forward, we are likely to see rental volumes remaining robust for the rest of the year as tenants continue to play the "musical chairs" game."