Singapore’s private residential prices rose 7.3% in the fourth quarter from the previous three months, easing from the biggest rally in 28 years, according to the Urban Redevelopment Authority.

The price index of private residential property climbed to 165.5 from 154.3 in the previous three months, when it rallied 15.8%, the Urban Redevelopment Authority said in a statement on its website today. For the full year, prices gained 1.7%, rebounding from 2008’s 4.7% slump.

Home sales for the 11 months to end-November totalled more than 14,000, near the full-year record of 14,800 units sold in 2007, according to calculations by Bloomberg. Still, transactions have slowed since peaking in July after the government introduced measures to cap property price swings and as the recovery in the nation’s economy faltered.

Singapore’s gross domestic product contracted an annualized 6.8% from the previous three months last quarter after climbing a revised 14.9% from July to September, the trade ministry said in a statement today. That was worse than the median estimate for a 2.1% decline in a Bloomberg News survey of eight economists.

Prices for private homes in the so-called core central area rose 7.1% last quarter and climbed 9.5% elsewhere in central Singapore, the Urban Redevelopment Authority said. They increased 5.8% across other parts of the island, according to the statement.

The data is based on transactions in the first 10 weeks of the quarter, the government agency said. It will provide an update in about four weeks.