Prices of private residential properties and HDB resale flats rise for 11 consecutive quarters

SINGAPORE: The resale price of local HDB flats has risen for 11 consecutive quarters. The last quarter rose by 2.3% quarter-on-quarter, which was the smallest quarterly increase in the whole of last year, and the annual growth rate also slowed down.

Data released by the Housing and Development Board showed that the resale price of HDB flats rose by 10.4% last year, a smaller increase than the 12.7% increase in the previous year.

In terms of transaction volume, 6,597 units changed hands last quarter, a year-on-year decrease of 16.9%. There were 27,896 transactions last year, 10.1% less than the previous year.

Property analysts suggested that the price growth of HDB flats actually slowed down in the last quarter probably because the market responded to government-introduced cooling measures in the third quarter.

HDB will launch 4,400 Built-To-Order (BTO) flats in Jurong West, Kallang Whampoa, Queenstown and Tengah next month.

Another 3,800 to 4,800 BTO HDB flats in Bedok, Kallang Whampoa, Queenstown, Serangoon and Tengah will also be available for purchase in May.

In total, the authorities plan to roll out as many as 23,000 HDB BTO units this year.

Just like HDB resale flats, private home prices have also risen for 11 consecutive quarters. According to data released by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA), local private housing prices rose by 0.4% in the last quarter and 8.6% in the whole of last year, both 0.2 percentage points higher than the estimated data.

URA data showed that the increase in the previous quarter had slowed down significantly from the previous quarter’s 3.8%. Last year’s increase was also smaller than the previous year’s 10.6%.

In the last quarter, the price increase of landed private housing slowed down to 0.6%; the increase of non-landed private housing also narrowed to 0.3%; the annual increase was 9.6% and 8.1% respectively.

Among them, non-landed private houses in the core central area increased by 0.7% in the previous quarter; other central areas rose by 3.1%; outside the central area fell by 2.6%; the annual increase ranged from 4.8% to 9.7%.

In terms of rent, the growth rate in the previous quarter was 7.4%, which slowed down quarter-on-quarter; the annual increase was significantly expanded to 29.7%.

Real estate watchers believe that last year’s sales volume was lower than the previous year, mainly because of the lack of new private housing units being launched, especially in the suburbs.

They suggested that housing prices in some areas have also reached record highs. So coupled with the new round of cooling measures last year, it affected the purchasing power of some buyers.

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