http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real...n-q1-stay-flat

HDB resale prices in Q1 stay flat

Property consultants continue to believe that the market is 'at a new equilibrium'

By Lee Meixian

[email protected]

@LeeMeixianBT

Apr 23, 2016


HDB resale prices dipped 0.1 per cent on a quarter-on-quarter basis in the first quarter of 2016, in line with earlier flash estimates.

Property consultants continue to believe that the public housing resale market is "at a new equilibrium" and stabilising.

Resale transactions slumped 10.9 per cent from 4,992 cases in the fourth quarter of 2015 to 4,449 cases in Q1 2016 - although this was expected given the festive season in February, which was also a shorter month.

Year on year, transactions were actually up 7.6 per cent. "This is the strongest - in terms of units transacted - in the past four years," PropNex Realty CEO Ismail Gafoor said.

"Transactions are expected to gradually increase due to the falling prices which will slowly attract more buyers to pick up resale units," he added.

He expects a price movement of about -1 to +2 per cent for HDB resale flats, with volume exceeding 20,000 units due to the lower asking prices.

ERA Realty Network key executive officer Eugene Lim noted that "this trend of minute price movements has been going on for the past four quarters", confirming his belief that the HDB resale market has largely stabilised.

He attributes the reason to price transparency: "As HDB has made public resale transaction data online, buyers have taken to using these prices as reference points when making an offer.

"This has contributed to the overall price stability as buyers are not likely to offer a price which deviates significantly from recent transactions as shown by the data.

"In addition, with economic headwinds and rising interest rates, buyers are likely to remain conservative when making their offers to purchase any flat."

Resale flats in mature estates will also continue to draw buyers as build-to-order (BTO) flats in these areas are very rare, he added.

He expects a slight decline of less than one per cent for HDB resale prices in 2016. Resale volume could come in at about 20,000 to 22,000, up from about 19,300 flats resold in 2015.

HDB had offered 4,170 flats for sale under the February 2016 BTO exercise.

In the upcoming May sales exercise, it will offer about 4,000 BTO flats and about 5,000 balance flats. More details will be available closer to the launch of the sale exercise.