Million-dollar HDB flats in all Singapore towns may be just a matter of time—industry experts

SINGAPORE: There are only four towns left in Singapore where public flats have not yet fetched a resale price of over S$1 million.

Industry experts speaking to TODAY said that if resale prices continue on an upward trend, every town may soon join the “million-dollar club.”

While affordable housing is one of the cornerstones of Singapore public policy (nearly 80 per cent live in HDB flats), the first million-dollar flat was sold in 2012.

It was a 150 sqm executive flat at Blk 149 Mei Ling Street in Queenstown with a S$1,000,000 price tag.

Last year, 470 HDB flats were sold for at least S$1 million, bringing the total to 1400 million dollar babies and reflecting an increase in living costs, including housing.

Central, Bishan, Queenstown, Toa Payoh, and Bukit Merah have the most flats sold for S$1 million or more.

The four remaining towns that have yet to see a resale flat sold at this price are Jurong West, Choa Chu Kang, Sembawang, and Tengah, although Sengkang may join the club next, with a five-room HDB flat at 216A Compassvale Drive recently selling for S$968,000.

The other three towns have also seen similar transactions at or near the S$900,000 mark.

Read also: Will Sengkang soon join the S$1 million HDB flat club?

Industry experts quoted in an article in TODAY on Wednesday (April 3) appear to believe that it is inevitable that every town will have million-dollar resale flats but underlined that these are still very much in the minority.

“If we look at the current HDB highs, it’s plain to see that since most of them are already in the S$900,000 region, these towns will reach the million-dollar mark soon if HDB resale prices continue their upward trend,” Mr Luqman Hakim, the chief data officer at property firm 99.co, told TODAY.

He added that transactions in this price range are only 2.7 per cent of the total.

HDB resale prices have gone up for 16 consecutive quarters. Flash estimates released by the Housing Development Board (HDB) on Monday morning (April 1) showed that the price of resale flats increased by 1.7 per cent in the first quarter of 2024.

Additionally, last quarter’s uptick was higher than the 1.1 per cent increase prices saw in the fourth quarter of last year. Moreover, resale volume for the last quarter was up by 5.5 per cent (6,928) compared to the same period last year (6,567).

Nevertheless, HDB noted that the resale market is stabilizing overall, given that resale prices only grew by 4.9 per cent last year. They rose by 12.7 per cent in 2021 and 10.4 per cent in 2022. /TISG

Read related: HDB resale flats up 1.7% for 16th consecutive quarterly increase