Demand for HDB resale flats remains strong in August: SRX

[SINGAPORE] Sales of Housing Board resale flats remained strong in August while prices grew at the fastest monthly rate since February.

There were 1.4 per cent fewer Housing Board resale flats sold in August compared with July, but this volume was 23.5 per cent higher than the same month last year.

In all, 2,435 HDB resale flats were sold in August, flash estimates from real estate portal SRX showed on Thursday.

Of the HDB flats sold last month, 40.3 per cent were four-room flats, 26 per cent were five-room flats, 23.2 per cent were three-room flats and 8.8 per cent were executive flats. The rest of the transactions involved multi-generation and two-room flats.

OrangeTee & Tie's head of research and consultancy Christine Sun said that the HDB resale market remained strong last month despite the Hungry Ghost Festival from Aug 19 to Sept 16, which typically sees lower sales activity.

"The strong sales volume over the past three months is not likely to be a 'blip' after the circuit breaker period," she said."Market sentiment could be slowly recovering since the virus outbreak is stabilising in Singapore and some sectors are starting to experience a business turn around after the circuit breaker period." Data from SRX showed a 0.7 per cent increase in August's resale prices compared with July's.

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Last month's resale prices were 2.1 per cent higher than the same month last year, but 12.1 per cent lower than the peak for HDB resale prices in April 2013.

Prices in non-mature estates rose by 3.3 per cent year on year while those in mature estates rose by 0.2 per cent.

ERA Realty's head of research and consultancy Nicholas Mak said the increase in the HDB resale price index in August represented the highest rate of monthly growth since this February.

"The growth in the price index was contributed by the resale transactions of HDB flats that recently completed the five-year minimum occupation period.

"These newer flats would usually command higher prices that the older flats in the vicinity," he said.

A five-room flat at Pinnnacle@Duxton recorded the highest transacted price for a resale flat in August at S$1,185,000.

It was one of five HDB resale flats sold for at least S$1 million this month.

An executive maisonette flat in Hougang sold for S$890,000, in what was the highest resale price for non-mature estates.

Data from SRX also showed that the overall median transaction over X-value (TOX) was a positive S$3,000 in August, an increase of S$2,000 compared with July.

Median TOX measures whether people are overpaying (in the case of positive TOX) or underpaying (when there is negative TOX) relative to the SRX Property X-value estimated market value for flats.

Flats in Bukit Batok recorded the highest median TOX at positive S$10,500, while those in Kallang/Whampoa recorded the lowest median TOX at negative S$4,000.

THE STRAITS TIMES