Prices of private homes are softening over the past few months. This is in line with a weaker macroeconomic projection for this year against a backdrop of rising mortgage rates and spiralling inflation. Higher borrowing costs have lowered buyers’ housing affordability while recent cooling measures reduced the borrowing limits of prospective buyers. Private home prices rose at a marginal pace of 0.4 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2022 from the previous quarter, according to the Q4 data released by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA). This is in stark contrast to the 3.8 per cent increase in the July to September period.