HDB resale transaction volumes plunge 38% in October; lowest since 2020

[SINGAPORE] The number of HDB resale transactions plunged 38.4 per cent in October from the month before, with 1,347 units sold – the lowest monthly volume since 2020.

Compared with October 2024, the resale volume was 37.6 per cent lower, according to flash data from real estate portals Singapore Real Estate Exchange (SRX) and 99.co.

This was the lowest monthly transaction volume since April and May in 2020, when transactions dropped to 423 and 364, respectively, due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Meanwhile, resale prices dipped 0.6 per cent.

Property analysts said the drop in transaction volume was significant. They attributed it to the steady supply of Build-To-Order (BTO) and balance flats that were rolled out in 2025, which could have turned buyers away from the resale market.

However, some also cautioned that it is too early to draw conclusions based on one month’s worth of data.

Ms Christine Sun, chief researcher and strategist at Realion (OrangeTee & ETC) Group, pointed out that more than 30,000 flats were launched over the sales exercises in February, July and October.

Buyers could have been drawn to the projects in central locations such as Tanjong Rhu, as well as new, highly anticipated estates like Mount Pleasant in Toa Payoh and Berlayar on the former Keppel Club site in Bukit Merah, she said.

In October, in the largest BTO sales exercise of 2025, 9,144 BTO flats were launched, including 3,294 units with shorter waiting times of less than three years.

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Ms Sun added that recent policy changes, such as allowing singles priority access when they buy a home near or with their parents, could have also pulled more buyers to the primary market.

In the latest BTO exercise, parents and their children, regardless of marital status, were able to jointly apply for two units in the same project.

In July, first-time single applicants were granted priority access within the existing quota for single buyers when they buy a two-room flexi flat near or with their parents.

The SRX and 99.co report also showed that the number of million-dollar flat transactions fell 49 per cent to 87 units in October, from 172 units in September.

October’s million-dollar flats accounted for 6.5 per cent of total transactions. The most expensive transactions were two five-room flats that changed hands at $1.55 million each – a 1,130 sq ft flat at The Pinnacle@Duxton at 1B Cantonment Road, and a 1,259 sq ft unit at 8 Boon Keng Road.

ERA Singapore key executive officer Eugene Lim said more buyers could have opted for private homes, given that prices of smaller units in new-launch condominiums are “just marginally higher” compared with some HDB flats that transacted at over $1 million.

He gave the example of Penrith, a 99-year leasehold development in Margaret Drive that launched in October, where the lowest priced unit was $1.44 million for a 613 sq ft two-bedroom unit.

In comparison, a 950 sq ft four-room HDB flat nearby in Dawson Road, with a remaining lease of 94 years, was sold for $1.04 million in the same month.

Mr Lim said: “A segment of home owners is also making the leap from HDB flats to condominiums, as this narrow price margin has made private property more attainable.” THE STRAITS TIMES