HDB resale prices rise further in April amid falling volume: SRX, 99.co

May 04, 2023

PRICES of resale Housing and Development Board (HDB) flats continued rising in April, flash figures released by SRX and 99.co on Thursday (May 4) showed.

On a month-on-month basis, overall HDB resale prices increased by 1.1 per cent in April, after rising by 0.5 per cent in March. Prices for mature estates were up by 1 per cent, while non-mature estates saw a 0.8 per cent rise.

Year on year, overall prices were 8.4 per cent higher than in April 2022. Mature estate prices increased 7.8 per cent and non-mature estate prices rose 8.1 per cent from the year-ago period.

By flat type, prices of five-room flats rose the most at 1.9 per cent while executive flats increased by 1 per cent month on month.

Prices of four-room flats rose by 0.3 per cent and prices of three-room flats recorded a 0.7 per cent increase from March.

Luqman Hakim, chief data and analytics officer at 99.co, said: “It is possible that with rent prices remaining high, many tenants are opting to buy resale flats instead.”

With the revised Additional Buyer’s Stamp Duty rates, tenants may also be prompted to reinvest and buy HDB resale flats, he added.

ERA Realty’s key executive officer Eugene Lim said: “We can see growing price resistance from homebuyers, particularly those with tighter housing budgets.

“Highly priced resale flats are likely to deter first-time homebuyers as the increased CPF housing grants cannot be used to pay for resale flats selling at above valuation prices.”

Meanwhile, resale volumes fell 4.3 per cent month on month, with 2,188 resale flats changing hands in April. Volumes were 3.7 per cent lower compared with the year-ago period.

OrangeTee & Tie senior vice-president of research and analytics Christine Sun noted that although resale volumes dipped last month, the number of units sold was still higher than the 2,176 monthly average units sold from October 2022 to March 2023, six months after September 2022 cooling measures.

She said: “This indicates that the sales performance remains robust considering that cooling measures were in place.”

Huttons Asia chief executive Mark Yip said that the increase in ABSD to 20 per cent for Singapore citizens looking to buy a second residential property may be “too much for many HDB upgraders to stomach”.

He said: “More of them will choose to sell and rent while waiting for their new home to be completed. This increase in flat supply may moderate prices in HDB resale flats.”

PropNex Realty’s head of research and content Wong Siew Ying said while HDB resale volume should remain steady in May 2023, some prospective flat buyers could opt out of the resale market to apply for this month’s Build-To-Order exercise, with the projects in Bedok and Serangoon looking particularly attractive.

In April, four-room flats changed hands the most, accounting for 47 per cent of the resale volume, followed by three-room flats at 23.2 per cent, five-room flats at 23.2 per cent and executive flats at 6.6 per cent.

There were 37 resale flats transacted for at least S$1 million in April, a slight dip from March when there were 39 such units sold.

April’s million-dollar flat transactions constituted 1.7 per cent of the month’s total resale volume.

Toa Payoh recorded the most million-dollar HDB flat deals with eight transactions, followed by Bishan and Kallang/Whampoa with six units each. Other million-dollar HDB flats came from locations such as the Central Area, Queenstown and Bukit Merah.

ERA’s Lim noted that three-bedroom private residential units in similar locations sell for about twice the price of these million-dollar flats.

He said: “Million-dollar HDB resale flats may be the way to go if the homebuyer does not want to pay S$2 million to S$2.5 million for a private condo in the same location.”

Two units at The Pinnacle @ Duxton were each sold for S$1.4 million – the highest transacted price for a resale flat in April.

In non-mature estates, the most expensive HDB flat transaction was for an executive apartment at Yishun Avenue 4 which changed hands for S$1.05 million.

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