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SINGAPORE – While the Housing Board’s (HDB) resale volume fell in October compared to the previous month, prices continued to rise, indicating that demand remained relatively strong amid the Covid- pandemic. 19.
Additionally, 13 HDB resale apartments were sold for more than $ 1 million, flash estimates from real estate portal SRX showed on Thursday (Nov 5). It is the highest number of transactions of this type in a single month.
The previous high was in June 2018 when the $ 11 million floors changed hands.
A total of 59 HDB resale floors sold for more than $ 1 million in the first 10 months of this year.
Ms Wong Siew Ying, head of research and content at PropNex, noted that this year’s figure appears to be on track to exceed the 64 million dollar such deals recorded last year.
National Development Minister Desmond Lee pointed out in Parliament last month that HDB resale flats selling for at least $ 1 million accounted for just 0.3 percent of total resale transactions this year.
For October, there were a total of 2,436 HDB resale transactions, 2.1 percent less than in September, according to SRX data.
The $ 13 million flats accounted for 0.5 percent of total resale transactions last month.
Of HDB’s resale apartments sold last month, 41.5 percent were four-bedroom apartments, 26.4 percent were five-bedroom apartments, 20.8 percent were three-bedroom apartments, and 9.6 percent were executive floors. The rest of the transactions involved multigenerational and two-bedroom flats.
October was the fifth consecutive month that sales volume remained above 2,400 units, after recovering from weak sales during the two-month breaker period in April and May.
HDB’s general resale apartment prices increased 1.2% in October compared to September. It is the fourth consecutive month that a price increase has been observed.
HDB data shows that HDB’s resale price rose 1.5% qoq in the third quarter of this year.
Orange Tee & Tie director of research and consulting Christine Sun said large resale flats, especially well-located ones, have been in demand in recent months.
“This is not surprising, as some families prefer to buy resale flats during a crisis, as people tend to be more cautious. For the same price, they can buy a much larger flat compared to a private home,” he said .
He noted that singles who move out of their family homes to live alone may also have contributed to the demand, as the work-from-home deal appears to continue in Phase 3 for some businesses.
PropNex’s Ms Wong said that based on comments on the ground from company agents, sales prices for HDB’s resale flats have risen in recent months, due to strong demand and increased volume of sales.
“In many cases, the agreed sale price is higher than the market valuation of the unit and the buyers have had to pay the difference in cash,” he said.
In October, a five-bedroom Design Build & Sell (DBSS) condo at Natura Loft in Bishan posted the highest transaction price at $ 1,208,000.
An executive duplex in Jurong East sold for $ 820,000 at what was the highest resale price for immature properties.
SRX data also showed that the overall median transaction over value X (TOX) was $ 3,000 positive in October, an increase of $ 1,000 compared to September.
The TOX median measures whether people are overpaying (in the case of positive TOX) or underpaying (when there is negative TOX) relative to the computer generated estimated market value of the SRX for flats.
ERA Realty’s head of research and consulting, Nicholas Mak, said that prior to Covid-19, Singapore’s property market would enter a lull in the last quarter of the year as people went on vacation.
However, with travel restrictions in place in Singapore and many travel destinations, this year may be the exception.
Mak estimates that HDB’s resale volume for 2020 could range between 23,500 and 24,800 floors, surpassing the 23,714 floors traded last year.
“With a more active resale market, HDB’s resale price index could also rise to end the year with a 2.5 to 3.5 percent year-on-year increase,” he said.
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