Rents of private non-landed homes, HDB flats fall in February: SRX

SOFTNESS persisted in the leasing market for private non-landed homes and public HDB (Housing & Development Board) flats in February with both segments marking a decline in rents.

Rents of non-landed private residential units posted a 0.8 per cent drop in February, compared to a month ago, dragged mainly by rents in the city centre and city fringe.

In the public housing arena, the SRX Property Price Index for HDB rentals shows rents marking a 0.3 per cent drop in February compared to January, dragged mainly by three and four-room flats.

According to SRX's rental index, non-landed private residential units in Core Central Region and Rest of Central Region saw month-on-month rent declines of 1.2 per cent and 1.5 per cent respectively in February, while rents in Outside Central Region stayed unchanged from January.

SRX's rental index for non-landed private residential units marks a 6.2 per cent fall from February last year and 10.5 per cent lower than the peak in January 2013.

SRX revised the rental index for January, which now shows rents for non-landed residential units unchanged from December 2014. Its earlier index showed a 0.2 per cent month-on-month increase.

Rental volumes declined. SRX estimates that 2,586 units were rented in February, a 25.8 per cent decrease from 3,487 units rented in January.

An estimated 1,371 HDB flats were rented in February, a 25.7 per cent decrease from 1,846 units rented in January, according to SRX.