Fewer HDB resale flats sold in August, with slight increase in prices: SRX

[SINGAPORE] There were fewer Housing Board (HDB) resale flats sold in August compared with July, though resale prices showed a slight increase month on month.

A total of 1,921 HDB resale flats changed hands in August, a 9.4 per cent decline from the month before, real estate portal SRX Property said in its flash estimates on Thursday.

Resale volume in August was 7.6 per cent lower than the same month last year.

Of the HDB flats sold last month, 42.2 per cent were four-room flats, 23.7 per cent were five-room flats, 23.4 per cent were three-flats and 8.3 per cent were executive flats. The rest of the transactions were multi-generation and two-room flats.

Data from SRX showed a 0.1 per cent increase in August's resale prices compared with July's.

However, last month's resale prices were 0.6 per cent lower than the same month last year, and 14.1 per cent lower than the peak for HDB resale prices in April 2013.

Prices in non-mature estate prices rose by 0.4 per cent year-on-year while those in mature estates fell 2.1 per cent.

A five-room Pinnacle@Duxton flat recorded the highest transacted price of S$1.2 million for a resale flat in August. It was one of eight HDB resale flats sold for more than S$1,000 per square foot this year.

A 22-year-old executive flat in Hougang sold for S$831,500 recorded the highest resale price for non-mature estates.

According to SRX's projection, 1,511 flats will hit the HDB resale market in the next three months as they approach their five-year minimum occupation period.

Data from SRX also showed that the overall median transaction over X-value (TOX) remains negative S$1,000 in August 2019.

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

HDB executive flats recorded a positive media TOX value of S$3,000 in August, while HDB three-room, four-room and five-room flats recorded negative median TOX values of S$3,000, S$1,000 and S$1,000 respectively.

Flats in Bukit Batok recorded the highest median TOX at positive S$11,000 while those in Bishan recorded the lowest median TOX at negative S$17,000.

OrangeTee & Tie's head of research and consultancy Christine Sun said that the drop in sales volume from July to August was expected and could be attributed to a seasonal effect where sales activities are usually slower during the lunar seventh month.

She noted that last month's resale volume was above the 12-month average of 1,830 units from August 2018 to July 2019.

"This indicates that demand for resale flats is still resilient. Resale flats remain an attractive housing option for buyers given their price affordability. Demand for older flats may have also increased in light of the recent Central Provident Fund (CPF) changes which allow some buyers to use more CPF to purchase these flats."

She noted that it was still currently a buyers' market, given the wide variety of flat options available, including choice of location, newer flat layouts and the availability of premium units.

"We may expect resale prices to remain soft as competition is likely to stiffen further with more flats reaching their minimum occupation period in the coming months," she said.

THE STRAITS TIMES