Record resale prices in 17 out of 26 HDB towns in year to date
RESALE prices hit record levels in 17 out of the 26 Housing and Development Board (HDB) towns in the year to date, said OrangeTee & Tie on Thursday (Jul 13).
OrangeTee said among the 17 towns, the highest price registered was for a unit at Bukit Merah, which changed hands at S$1.5 million. This was followed by a S$1.42 million sale in Toa Payoh and a S$1.4 million sale in Bishan.
A total of 105 resale flats were sold for at least S$1 million during the second quarter, more than the 103 transactions in the first, said the property consultancy firm.
It added that only five towns have yet to see a million-dollar flat transaction – Bukit Panjang, Choa Chu Kang, Jurong West, Sembawang and Sengkang.
Average resale prices increased for 21 HDB towns, with Geylang registering the highest price growth at 18.7 per cent. This was followed by Central Area at 8.6 per cent, Bedok at 4.3 per cent and Tampines at 4.1 per cent.
Overall, HDB resale prices rose 1.4 per cent in the second quarter after edging up 1 per cent in the preceding quarter. Prices have increased for 13 consecutive quarters. The Q2 data was based on flash estimates released by HDB in July.
Christine Sun, senior vice-president of research and analytics at OrangeTee, said the price increase was largely driven by five-room flats, where the average price jumped 1.9 per cent from S$672,674 in Q1 to S$685,660 in Q2.
In Q2, prices of four-room flats increased 1.3 per cent from S$571,995 to S$579,708, while prices of executive flats increased 1.7 per cent from S$813,350 to S$827,549.
On the other hand, total resale volumes declined 4.6 per cent in the year to date. The number of resale transactions slipped to 6,409 units in Q2, from 6,720 units in the same quarter last year.
In Sun’s view, demand for resale flats is “considered resilient given the cooling measures implemented in September 2022”. She noted demand could have been sustained by more grants given to first-timers purchasing resale flats.
By flat type, four-room flats were the most popular, comprising 45.7 per cent of total resale transactions in Q2. This was up from 42.6 per cent in Q1. The sale proportion of five-room flats also increased from 22.6 per cent to 23.4 per cent over the same period.
High demand for four-room flats could be driven by private property owners who are 55 years old and older, as they are exempted from the 15-month wait-out period if they were to buy four-room flats or smaller. Similarly, upgraders who are priced out from the private property market could have bought the larger resale flats, said Sun.
OrangeTee estimates the total resale volume to be between 25,000 and 27,000 units this year, with resale prices rising at a slower pace of 4 per cent to 6 per cent.
Source : https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/property/record-resale-prices-17-out-26-hdb-towns-year-date-orangetee-tie
