SINGAPORE - Official flash estimates to be released next week will mark the end of the Singapore housing bear market with private home prices turning up in the third quarter of 2017, the first time in four years, according to OCBC Investment Research.

Analysts Eli Lee and Andy Wong said their forecast was based on an analysis of caveats lodged to date and firm market conditions such as sales volumes and take-up rates of new private homes in July and August.

They noted also that price expectations of developers and home sellers in the secondary market have risen over the last few months.

The analysts forecast Singapore home prices to be overall flat in 2017 and to appreciate 3 to 8 per cent in 2018 "as the rental market begins to pick up and macro-economic conditions remain firm."

The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) will be releasing its preliminary private property price index for the third quarter on Oct 2.

The decline in private home prices has slowed this year, according to URA data. They slipped just 0.1 per cent in the second quarter, revised up from an earlier estimate of a 0.3 per cent drop, after declining 0.4 per cent in the first quarter of this year.