Condo, HDB rents continued to slip in December but full-year declines eased in 2017

THE housing rental market remained in a soft patch in December, but the full-year rental declines were more moderate than the year before.

In the private non-landed segment, rents slipped 0.3 per cent in December from a month ago - bringing the full-year decline to 0.5 per cent.

HDB rents also marked a 0.6 per cent fall in December from November, bringing the full-year decline to 3.5 per cent.

The figures are flash estimates from SRX Property, which supplement property transactions from URA and HDB with real-time, pre-caveat transactions from 14 major real estate agencies.

The 2017 rental falls represent more moderate declines than the 5.9 per cent drop in private non-landed rents and 3.9 per cent dip in HDB rents in 2016.

The seasonally slow month of December also saw a decline in rental transactions.

An estimated 3,188 private non-landed units were rented in December, representing a 20.2 per cent drop from the preceding month and 15.3 per cent lower than a year ago.

There were an estimated 1,414 HDB flats rented in December, a 23.1 per cent decrease from November and a 21.2 per cent drop from a year ago.

The full-year drag in private home rents came from the city-fringe and suburban areas, as reflected in the 0.4 per cent drop in the Rest of Central Region and the 1.1 per cent decline in the Outside Central Region. The Core Central Region saw a 0.1 per cent rise in rents for the full year.

For HDB rentals, non-mature estates were less resilient as rents fell by a larger 4.4 per cent for the full year, compared to the 2.7 per cent decline in mature estates.