Prices increased 0.4 percent in the three months to June, after rising 3.7 percent in the first quarter, the Urban Redevelopment Authority said today. That's the smallest gain since the three months ended September 2004, when prices rose 0.36 percent, according to the agency.

Home prices have increased every quarter since March 2004, and rose 31 percent in 2007 to an 11-year high as Singapore's economy expanded and foreigners bought homes in the city-state. Prices picked up at a slower pace this year on concern the global credit squeeze will damp economic growth.

"It's nearing the end but there could be a last dance," Nicholas Mak, director of research at Knight Frank in Singapore, said today. The slump in prices may last a year "if home sales remain low and uncertainty doesn't diminish," he said.

The proportion of unsold new homes rose in the second quarter, the authority's data showed.

At the end of the first quarter, developers had land to build 67,700 homes. Of this, about 56,500 units are to be finished between this year and 2011, the authority said. About 42,700 units, or 63 percent of the total, haven't been sold. That's more than the 38,300 units, or 59 percent of the total, that weren't sold in the first quarter.

Developers may not be able to offer more new homes for sale, or raise prices, said Chua Yang Liang, head of Southeast Asia research at Jones Lang LaSalle Inc.

"Developers are cautious over releasing too many units in an attempt to hold prices stable, giving incentives and discounts only to persuade a stable demand," Chua said. "Buyers on the other hand are not willing to participate aggressively as they are anticipating prices to moderate."

Still, prices may increase over the longer term as Singapore completes projects including two casino resorts, analysts said.

"Singapore's positive mid-term prospects on the back of the completion of the two integrated resorts and the Marina Bay Financial Centre will help to prop prices up," Tay Huey Ying, director of research for Colliers International in Singapore, said. "Singapore's positive mid-term prospects are likely to act as the invisible hands in holding prices steady for now."

Home prices will probably hold steady or decline by not more than 3 percent in the third quarter, Tay said.