Singapore’s private home prices increased 7.4% in the fourth quarter, bringing the gain for 2009 to 1.8%, the Urban Redevelopment Authority said on its Web site today.

 

The index of private property prices rose to 165.7 in the three months ended Dec. 31, compared with 154.3 the previous quarter, according to the statement. A total of 14,688 homes were sold last year, just shy of the record 14,811 transacted in 2007, the government agency said.