HDB resale deals jump 10.5% in July; prices inch up as market moderates: SRX, 99.co

HDB resale deals jump 10.5% in July; prices inch up as market moderates: SRX, 99.co

Aug 04, 2022

THE number of Housing and Development Board (HDB) flats resold rose in July, while resale prices grew at a slower pace, according to flash estimates from property portal SRX and 99.co released on Thursday (Aug 4).

The number of resale flats transacted jumped 10.5 per cent to 2,363 units, rebounding from 2,139 units in June – which registered a drop in volume for the second straight month amid the school holiday season.

Sellers were more realistic in their asking prices which translated into more transactions for July, said Huttons Asia chief executive Mark Yip.

“The number of deals involving a cash over valuation are getting fewer. That had resulted in a smaller price gain in July compared to June,” he added.

Compared with the corresponding period a year ago, resale volumes were 11.3 per cent lower and below the 12-month average of 2,386 units.

“The trend indicates that demand has not recovered back to the levels seen before cooling measures were implemented in December 2021,” said OrangeTee & Tie’s senior vice-president of research and analytics Christine Sun.

She added escalating home prices may have dampened sentiment as overall resale prices have already risen 6.1 per cent over the past 6 months. The Singapore government also launched more BTO flats in different locations, which may have drawn some demand away.

Flats located in non-mature estates continued to lead resale volumes, comprising more than half (56.7 per cent) of transactions, while mature estate transactions made up the remaining 43.3 per cent.

Around 42 per cent of the volume was from 4-room flats, followed by 24.8 per cent from 5-room, 23.5 per cent from 3-room and 8.1 per cent from executive flats. The remaining were for 1-room and 2-room flats.

PropNex Realty head of research and content Wong Siew Ying expects many homebuyers to continue exploring resale options in non-mature estates, as rising interest rates and firm prices of mature towns continue to weigh on buyers.

“This demand may continue to drive a slight upside growth potential in HDB resale prices in non-mature towns,” she noted.

Meanwhile, HDB resale prices inched 0.7 per cent higher month on month and rose 11.6 per cent year on year. The prices of both mature and non-mature estate flats rose, gaining 0.8 per cent and 0.6 per cent respectively from June.

All room types registered price increases, with executive flats seeing the highest climb at 1.2 per cent, followed by 4-room and 3-room flat prices which rose 0.6 per cent each, and 5-room prices which grew 0.5 per cent.

Year on year, 3-room, 4-room, 5-room and executive flat prices advanced 11.7 per cent, 11.6 per cent, 11.5 per cent and 13.6 per cent respectively. Mature and non-mature estate prices rose 10.7 per cent and 12.3 per cent respectively.

The number of million-dollar flats transacted rose to 33 units in July, creeping closer to the record set in December 2021, when 36 deals took place. Marine Parade and Bukit Batok were the newest estates to join the million-dollar club.

A 5-room loft apartment located at SkyTerrace@Dawson set a new record for the most expensive HDB flat sold at S$1.418 million, surpassing the S$1.4 million record set by a unit at City Vue @ Henderson.

SRX and 99.co noted that July’s million-dollar flat sales continued to form 1.4 per cent of total HDB resale volume, as per May and June.

Bishan recorded 10 million-dollar flat transactions, followed by Ang Mo Kio, which sold 5 units and Queenstown, which had 4 such transactions. The rest of the deals were from Bukit Merah, Toa Payoh, Central Area, Bukit Timah, Woodlands, Hougang, Bukit Batok, Serangoon and Marine Parade.

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