Fewer Housing Board resale flats changed hands in April 2023 as prices inched up by 1.1 per cent.
The number of HDB resale flats sold fell by 4.3 per cent – or 99 units – to an estimated 2,188 units transacted in April, according to flash data released by real estate portals 99.co and SRX on Thursday.
This is 3.7 per cent lower compared with April 2022.
Resale prices rose by 1.1 per cent in April, with prices in mature estates up by 1 per cent and those in non-mature estates up by 0.8 per cent.
5-room HDB Resale prices highest increase of 1.9%
Prices for all flat types rose in April compared with March, five-room flats recorded the highest increase of 1.9 per cent, followed by 1 per cent for executive flats. Three-room flat resale prices crept up by 0.7 per cent and four-room flats by 0.3 per cent.
HDB Resale overall saw a hike of 8.4%
OrangeTee & Tie senior vice-president of research and analytics Christine Sun said even though April recorded a lower resale volume, it was still higher than the 2,176 monthly average units sold from October 2022 to March 2023.
“The stronger price growth and robust sales indicate that the resale market remains resilient despite September 2022 cooling measures.
“Demand was probably boosted by more buyers returning to the resale market as the Government announced in Budget 2023 that more Central Provident Fund Housing Grants will be given to first-timers buying resale flats,” said Ms Sun, who noted that resale prices in mature estates had risen faster than flats in non-mature estates for two consecutive months.
“As anticipated, some first-timers may have switched from buying cheaper flats in non-mature estates to pricier ones in mature estates since they can use the additional CPF Housing Grants to top up the price difference,” she added.
Temporary property cooling measures
Since Sept 30, 2022, private home owners must wait 15 months after the sale of their home before they can buy a resale flat without housing grants.
The temporary cooling measure, aimed at moderating demand from private home owners who tend to have a bigger budget for HDB flats, was introduced after the market showed growing signs of overheating.
What is driving HDB resale prices up?
Mr Luqman Hakim, chief data and analytics officer at 99.co, said the rise in resale prices could be contributed by more demand from tenants who have decided to buy resale flats as rent prices remain high.
“Subsequently, with the revised ABSD (additional buyer’s stamp duty) rates from April 27 onwards, there is expectant pressure on rental demand (and prices), prompting spillover demand from tenants as they reinvest and buy HDB resale flats,” said Mr Luqman.
High demand for larger HDB resale flats
Property portal Mogul.sg chief research officer Nicholas Mak said overall prices of the bigger flat types increased at a faster pace than those for smaller flats in April due to the steady increase of private housing prices, making such private homes unattainable for some buyers.
“Furthermore, buyers who want family-size homes with bigger space but have financial constraints, will seek out the larger HDB resale flats. This led to a faster price expansion for the bigger flats,” said Mr Mak.
1.7% of HDB Resale units sold were million-dollar HDB units
There were 37 HDB resale flats that were sold for at least $1 million in April, down from 39 units in March. There were 24 such flats sold in February and 40 in January.
The million-dollar units made up 1.7 per cent of the total resale volume in April, with Toa Payoh recording eight such transactions, followed by Bishan and Kallang/Whampoa with six units each. The rest were sold in the central area, Ang Mo Kio, Bedok, Bukit Batok, Bukit Merah, Clementi, Queenstown and Yishun.
A five-room and a four-room unit at The Pinnacle@Duxton were both sold for $1.4 million, marking the highest transacted price in April.
In non-mature estates, the highest transacted price was recorded at $1,051,800 for an executive flat in Yishun Avenue 4.
This article was first published in The Straits Times.