SINGAPORE: Last month saw the highest number of Housing & Development Board (HDB) flats sold for $1 million or more, with 141 such units exchanging hands. This is the highest volume of transactions over the past year, according to a 99-SRX flash report.
Data released by HDB revealed that the price of resale flats went up by just 1.6 percent last quarter compared to Q4 2024, year-on-year. However, resale prices in April were up by 9.3 per cent.
April’s 141 million-dollar flat sales show a significant increase from the 108 similar transactions in March. In total, 2,309 HDB resale flats were sold last month, which means that 6.1 per cent fetched prices of over one million dollars.
The spike in pricey transactions could well be a temporary one, according to a Mothership report, which quotes the chief data and analytics officer at 99.co, Luqman Hakim, as saying that the high number of sales in April could have been influenced by specific conditions, including the recent General Election, as well as tariffs and other economic considerations.
“The higher prices and rise in million-dollar flat sales could simply be a temporary spike, driven by near-term caution and opportunistic moves. As economic uncertainty settles or new policies are introduced, activity in the resale market could moderate in the months ahead,” he said.
Among the resale flats sold last month, nearly three in five (59.7 per cent) are located at non-mature estates.
For April’s million-dollar flat transactions, 27 are located at Toa Payoh, including the most expensive one, a five-room unit at Lorong 1A Toa Payoh that sold for $1.49 million.
There were 23 such pricey transactions at Bukit Merah, and 14 each at Queenstown and Kallang/Whampoa.
Among the types of flats, the price of three-room units went up the most last month, year-on-year, a substantial 10.2 per cent price increase. Four-room flats went up by 9.5 per cent, meanwhile, and five-room flats increased in price by 8.5 per cent. Executive flats saw the lowest price increase, at 6.8 per cent.
A number of commenters have weighed in on the matter, with some expressing concern.
“This is very worrying since BTO is pegged to resale prices,” opined one Reddit user.
Another agreed that high prices for HDB flats are “worrying for citizens”.
Others seemed to accept this as part of the new normal for property prices.
“I am going to generalise. Any 5-room OR 4-room with more than 80 years lease and near MRT is likely to be close to $1M,” wrote one.
Another pointed out that even a 3-room resale flat near Queenstown fetched a price approaching the million-dollar mark.
“$1 million HDB flat is no longer newsworthy, unless it’s for certain estates that have no such transaction yet,” another added.
“The fact that 1 million is no longer newsworthy is what’s scary about it. Means it’s already a norm,” a commenter agreed. /TISG
Read also: Another Pinnacle @ Duxton flat resold for record $1.5 million