Private homes & resale flats prices increase again in Q3

SINGAPORE: On Monday (Oct 2), the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) said that the price of private residential property rose again in the third quarter of 2023, while the Housing and Development Board (HDB) said that resale prices also went up in the same period.

The URA and HDB both released flash estimates on Oct 2. The URA said the private residential property price index increased by 0.5 per cent, while HDB said resale prices went up by 1.2 per cent for Q3 of this year. In comparison, the price of private residential property had decreased by 0.2 per cent in the previous quarter.

URA noted that “The increase was significantly lower than the average quarterly increase of 2.1 per cent in 2022. In addition, sale transaction volume fell by about 15 per cent on a quarter-on-quarter basis and by about 26 per cent on a year-on-year basis in 3rd Quarter 2023.”

Meanwhile, HDB resale prices had increased by 1.5 per cent during the year’s second quarter. Ms Christine Sun, OrangeTee & Tie’s senior vice president of research, was quoted as saying in CNA that “some price resistance” could be the reason for the slower pace of growth in the third quarter of this year, as residents grapple with inflation and affordability concerns.

Ms Sun added, “Home buyers’ affordability has been hit by rate hikes as interest rates have stayed higher and longer than anticipated.”

In an Oct 2 report, Bloomberg said that increased private home prices are “a sign of the persistence of a property boom that has gripped” Singapore in the past several years.

Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Mr Ken Foong called the rebound in private home prices “not a surprise”, saying he expects that home price growth will stay “muted” at under 2 per cent in the second half of 2023 and as much as 5 per cent for the whole year.

“The statistics will be updated on 27 October 2023 when URA releases its full set of real estate statistics for 3rd Quarter 2023. Past data have shown that the difference between the quarterly prices changes indicated by the flash estimate and the actual changes could be significant when the change is small. The public is advised to interpret the flash estimates with caution,” URA noted, however.

HDB added on Oct 2 that it will be offering around 6,800 Build-To-Order flats in Choa Chu Kang, Kallang Whampoa, Queenstown, and Tengah in an upcoming sales launch early this month, with another 6,000 flats offered in December at the final sales exercise for the year at Bukit Panjang, Jurong West, Woodlands, Bedok, Bishan, Bukit Merah and Queenstown.

“These numbers are subject to review as more project details will be firmed up closer to the launch date. HDB remains on track to launch 23,000 flats in 2023 and a total of 100,000 flats from 2021 to 2025,” added HDB. /TISG

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