Private residential prices slid 0.1% in the last three months of the year, according to preliminary data from the Urban Redevelopment Authority released Wednesday.

Still, the index posted a 7.9% gain in the year as a whole, the best annual increase in eight years.

Singapore’s authorities have kept the property market on a tight rein since the early 2010s, avoiding Hong Kong’s experience of runaway costs.

In July, the government imposed higher stamp duties and tougher loan-to-value rules to choke off a sudden bout of exuberance.

The earlier resurgence had been marked by aggressive land bids from developers and an explosion in en-bloc sales, where apartment owners band together to sell entire buildings.

This year, prices will rise a maximum of 3% – or even stay flat or decline – according to estimates from four real estate firms, after last year’s resurgence prompted a renewed clampdown. Home sales are forecast to once again lag behind 2017 levels.

Extra constraints since July have included limits on the number of “shoe-box” apartments, limiting transactions at the cheaper end of the market, and anti-money laundering rules that imposed an additional administrative burden on developers.

The government is slowing the release of land for residential use in the first half of 2019, citing a spike in supply and cooling demand.

Prices of prime area apartments rose 6.2% in 2018, while those in suburban areas gained 9.5%, the latest data show.

The following table gives a breakdown of price moves in the most recent quarter.