Fewer HDB units sold in March 2024, HDB resale prices rise 0.3%.
Prices of Housing Board flats for resale increased for the sixth consecutive month in March, analysts said. They attributed this to the demand for larger flats and the increasing number of million dollar flat transactions.
On April 8, flash data from the real estate portals Singapore Real Estate Exchange and 99.co revealed that prices rose by 0.3 percent in March. This was a smaller increase than the 0.5 percent rise in February.
Prices rose by 6.2% year-on-year.
The overall growth rate has increased in the last six months despite the slower growth of prices.
HDB resale price rose by 3.8% between September 2023 to March 2024. This is higher than the 2.3% increase during the six-month period from March 2023 to September 2023.
The sales may have slowed due to the steeper price increases over the past six months.
Less resale apartments were sold in the month of March,, with transactions dropping by 3.3 percent to an estimated 2,063 unit, SRX data and 99.co showed.
Resale volume in March 2023 was 9.8 percent lower.
Demand could have been shifted towards the HDB sales event in February when over 4,100 flats built-to-order and 1,500 sale of balance flats were available.
In March, 61 flats sold for more than $1 million, compared to 50 in February.
The HDB resale apartments sold for over $1 million in March included 19 four-room units and 24 five-room units. There were also 16 executive apartments as well as two multi-generational flats.
Nine of the properties were located in towns that were not mature, such as Bukit Panjang and Jurong East.
This transaction accounted for about 3% of the total number of transactions in March. It was a higher percentage than 2.3% in February.
The most expensive resale apartment was a five room, 1,202 sqft unit located between the 19th & 21st floors at Block 9A Boon Tiong Road Tiong Bahru. It sold for $1.45m.
union square residences balance units chart
A 1,765 square foot multi-generational flat on Yishun Avenue 4 sold for $1.2 million in March, making it the highest transaction of a non-mature property.
Six executive flats in Hougang were sold at a minimum of $1 million each, the most million-dollar deals in the town’s non-mature status in one month.
The HDB resale marketplace is experiencing a stronger demand for larger and five-room flats. This can be attributed to the fact that private home owners have completed their 15-month waiting period after selling their homes.
The wait-out is an interim measure that will be implemented in September 2022, to cool down the resale markets.
Prices of executive units and three-room apartments were both down by 0.1%.
Seven of nine transactions worth millions of dollars in Toa Payoh involved flats at Toa Payoh Crest, which has recently completed its minimum five-year occupation period.
Toa Payoh Crest has a great location, close to MRT stations and schools. In the next few months, we are likely to see a number of similar transactions.
Apartments with leases remaining of 90 years or more accounted for a larger proportion of all transactions in March, at 26,8 percent. This is slightly higher than February’s 25,4 percent.
It is possible that the resale price of flats has been supported by newer apartments, which tend to sell for higher prices.
The number of multi-million dollar flat sales will remain high throughout April. She said that based on data from April 8, 16 resale apartments have been sold for more than $1 million in each of the first four weeks of April.
