URA released its flash estimate of the private residential property price index for 4Q08 last Friday. Decline in property prices accelerated in 4Q08 as the index fell from 173.3 in 3Q08 to 163.4 in 4Q08, a decline of 5.7% QoQ. Price decline was most significant among properties in the Core Central Region, where prices fell by 6.3% QoQ in 4Q08. Prices in the Rest of Central Region and Outside Central Region fell by 5.5% and 4.7% QoQ respectively. HDB had also released its flash estimate of the HDB Resale Price Index for 4Q08. Although resale prices increase by 1.5% QoQ in 4Q08, this was much slower than the 4.2% QoQ increase in 3Q08. Fall in private property prices came as no surprise, given the weak October and November property transaction data released by URA earlier. We reiterate our NEUTRAL view on the property sector.