SINGAPORE: Resale prices for HDB flats in 12 areas dropped in comparison to the last quarter of 2023. These areas include Bukit Timah, Central Area, and Geylang.
HDB resale prices decreased the most at Bukit Timah, where they dipped by 10.4 per cent quarter on quarter. In the central area, the drip was 8.6 per cent, at Geylang, 4.8 per cent.
Prior to this, an analysis from 99-SRX showed a 0.5 per cent upturn in Oct 2023, when there had been an 11 per cent increase in resale volume. However, experts already predicted a dip in resale volume for the rest of the quarter, in part due to the holiday period.
Read also: 99-SRX: HDB resale market shows 0.5% upturn amidst muted BTO launch
In Bishan and Jurong West, prices dropped by 4.4 per cent, and in Jurong East and Hougang, they dropped by 3.5 and 3.3 per cent respectively. Meanwhile, in Clementi and Serangoon, prices dipped by 1.6 per cent.
The three areas that had the smallest drops are Marine Parade (0.8 per cent), Queenstown (0.7 per cent), and Toa Payoh (0.4 per cent).
Meanwhile, HDB resale flats increased in 14 areas in all. Sembawang saw the biggest increase of all (4.9 per cent), with by Ang Mo Kio (3.6 per cent) coming in second and Tampines (2.9 per cent) in third.
All in all, the total sale of HDB resale flats for the last quarter of the year did increase, but only by 0.3 per cent compared to the previous quarter.
“Prices either dropped or grew marginally in most towns last quarter as buyers remained cautious due to inflationary and affordability concerns. More buyers may have also been diverted from the secondary market to the primary market. Buyers were offered more housing options with more than 12,000 new flats launched for sale in Q4.
This figure is double the usual number of new flats released per quarter due to a delay in the August Build-To-Order (BTO) sales launch, which resulted in two BTO sales exercises being held in Q4 alone. Furthermore, many of the new flats were in prime or good locations, and most of these projects had relatively shorter construction periods compared to past launches,” said Ms Christine Sun, chief researcher and strategist for OrangeTee Group, in a report on Jan 17.
Singaporeans appear to continue to look for larger spaces for their households. The type of flats that saw the biggest price increase were four-room flats (0.7 per cent), and the quarterly price of three- and five-room flats rose by 0.6 per cent, OrangeTee added.
While the price of executive flats increased by 0.3 per cent, two-room flats only grew by 0.1 per cent. /TISG