Rise in HDB resale prices likely to ease; Greater Southern Waterfront a likely PLH candidate

EdgeProp Singapore

December 23, 2021

The HDB resale market registered its best performance this year since 2010 as prices for resale HDB flats continued to climb in November for the 17th straight month.

The number of flats transacted for the year is likely to exceed 29,000, with price gains of over 13%, says Lee Sze Teck, senior director of research at Huttons Asia.

Christine Sun, senior vice-president of research and analytics at OrangeTee & Tie estimates that the total volume may reach up to 31,000 units this year.

“This will have surpassed the 24,714 units sold last year and more than the 23,000 over units sold in 2018 and 2019, before the pandemic started,” she says.

In 2022, HDB resale flats are likely to remain popular, albeit with a lower volume to around 25,000 to 27,000 units owing to higher selling prices.

Prices for HDB resale flats have performed exceptionally well this year amid construction delays with HDB BTO flats, which have increased wait times.

The reduced supply of resale flats for sale are also another factor behind the strong showing in price growth and volume, says Huttons’ Lee.

“Buyers who had previously waited out for clarity post-pandemic decided to enter the market when they realised the situation is unlikely to resolve in the near term. There were also buyers who switched to the resale market because of construction delays. The demand and supply mismatch resulted in the surge in the HDB resale market,” he says.

During the year, flats that were located within or nearer the central region remained popular among buyers, resulting in the creation of more million-dollar HDB flats in the process.

“Huttons estimates that there may be some $250 million flats in 2021, up 205% from a year ago,” he adds.

Million-dollar flats

In November, the number of million-dollar HDB flats sold stood at a record 29 units, with the number looking to go higher from here.

However, OrangeTee & Tie’s Sun does not see million-dollar flats being the norm just yet, since they still make up only a small proportion of the total transactions.

While certain flats in the Rest of Central Region (RCR) such as Queenstown, Toa Payoh and Bukit Merah as well as flats in the Outside Central Region (OCR) including Ang Mo Kio, Clementi and Serangoon have hit the million-dollar mark, Sun does not see that affecting buyers.

“They will buy whichever regions that they like or meet their needs,” she explains.

Read more at: https://www.edgeprop.sg/property-new...-plh-candidate