In July, the prices for Housing Board (HDB) resale flats in Singapore experienced a modest rise of 0.3%. This indicates that the price increase rate is diminishing, even though more transactions took place.
For three months in a row, the increment in HDB resale prices has been under 1%. Data provided by real estate websites 99.co and SRX implies that buyers may be resisting higher prices.
According to Christine Sun, senior vice-president of research and analytics at OrangeTee & Tie, the growth in prices from January to July 2023 was 4.2%, a more moderate pace than the 6% and 8.2% seen in 2022 and 2021, respectively, over the same timeframe.
With record high prices for HDB resale flats in many areas, Ms. Sun noted that some potential buyers may find themselves priced out, limiting any significant further price increase.
Some consumers may have shifted their focus to the Build-To-Order (BTO) market, where more new flats have been launched by HDB.
After a 31-month upward trend, prices dipped by 0.1% in February. However, experts warned that it was too soon to declare this a sign of a cooling market, as prices have been on the rise for five consecutive months since.
PropertyGuru’s report on Monday revealed that the asking prices for HDB resale flats had slowed to a 0.6% increase in Q2 2023, down from 1.6% in Q1, signaling a potential stabilization.
Data for July shows a 0.4% price decrease in mature estates, whereas non-mature estates saw a 0.4% increase. This could be a sign of more buyers being priced out of mature estates, according to Huttons Asia CEO Mark Yip.
Sales activity recovered from a seasonal dip in June, with approximately 2,056 units sold in July, a 10.7% increase from June.
Some analysts believe the recovery in sales was expected after the June school holidays and the desire to finalize transactions before the Hungry Ghost Festival. But this year might not follow the usual pattern, due to the postponement of the August BTO sales exercise.
99.co’s chief data and analytics officer, Mr. Luqman Hakim, anticipates a minor increase in sales volume in the coming months, influenced by the rescheduling of the BTO launch.
In July, 32 HDB flats were sold for $1 million or more, down slightly from 34 in June. These made up 1.6% of the total volume.
Wong Siew Ying, head of research and content at PropNex Realty, observes that the number of million-dollar flats has consistently remained above 30 each month for most of 2023. High private-home prices may continue to drive interest in these HDB resale flats.
The most expensive resale flat sold in July was a five-room unit at the Peak @ Toa Payoh, which went for $1.38 million.