SINGAPORE - Private home prices fell at a slower pace last year than in 2014, according to flash estimates from the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) on Monday (Jan 4).

Prices were down an estimated 0.5 per cent in the fourth quarter of last year, taking the full year decline to 3.7 per cent. In 2014, prices fell 4.0 per cent during the year.

The fourth quarter's estimated price decline was also the smallest across the nine straight quarters of price decline in URA's property price index.

Prices are now about 8.4 per cent below their recent peaks in the third quarter of 2013.

According to the estimates, prices of non-landed private homes in the core central region fell 0.4 per cent in the fourth quarter, while prices of those in the city fringes and suburbs were unchanged.

For the whole of 2015, prices in core central region, city fringes and suburbs fell by 2.6 per cent, 3.9 per cent and 3.7 per cent respectively.

Prices of landed properties fell 2.1 per cent in the fourth quarter and were down 4.4 per cent for the whole of 2015.

The flash estimates are compiled based on transaction prices given in contracts submitted for stamp duty payment and survey data on new units sold by developers during the first 10 weeks of the quarter.

The statistics will be updated four weeks later when URA releases the full real estate statistics for the fourth quarter of 2015, which captures more data from the stamp duty records and the take-up of new projects.

"Past data have shown that the difference between the quarterly price changes indicated by the flash estimate and the actual price changes could be significant when the change is small. The public is advised to interpret the flash estimates with caution," the URA said.