SINGAPORE - After a slight uptick in August, Housing Board flat resale prices headed marginally south again last month as the market continues to show signs of stabilisation.

Overall prices dropped by 0.4 per cent in September, according to latest data from SRX Property.

This was led by the prices of three-, four- and five-room flats, which dipped by 0.1 per cent, 0.6 per cent and 1.1 per cent respectively. Prices for executive flats, however, increased by 1 per cent.

This means overall prices have slipped by0.5 per cent in the past six months, and are 11.6 per cent shy of their peak in April 2013, said SRX Property.

The number of flats that exchanged hands also went up to 1,504 last month, up 3.9 per cent last month from the 1,447 units in August.

While resale volume is up 2.4 per cent from a year ago, it is still 58.8 per cent down from its peak of 3,649 units in May 2010.

According to HDB flash estimates earlier this month, prices of resale flats declined at a slower rate of 0.3 per cent in the third quarter, compared to 0.4 per cent in the second quarter.

PropNex Realty chief executive Mohamed Ismail Gafoor estimated that prices will drop less than 1 per cent on a monthly basis for the rest of the year.

He said the marginal price movement means that HDB prices are "going through a period of consolidation" compared to last year, when overall prices slid by 6.2 per cent.

ERA Realty's Eugene Lim described the marginal price decline as "largely expected", as existing cooling measures continue to dampen the market.

He noted that some demand might be drawn away from the resale market in November, when about 12,000 new flats will be launched in HDB's biggest sales exercise yet.