Singapore condo, HDB rents continue to rise in January; volumes recover: SRX, 99.co

RENTS for Singapore condominiums and Housing Board (HDB) flats continued to rise in January 2022, while volumes saw some recovery, according to flash figures released by SRX Property and 99.co on Wednesday (Feb 16).

Cooling measures implemented in December 2021 had led to more HDB upgraders selling their flats and renting before buying a new home to avoid paying additional buyer's stamp duty (ABSD), ERA Realty head of research and consultancy Nicholas Mak observed.

Easing border controls and a substantial increase in international arrivals also likely contributed to the increase in demand for rental properties, said Christine Sun, senior vice-president of research and analytics at OrangeTee & Tie.

The rental market has further benefited from the recovering labour market, which expanded in the last 3 months of 2021. The number of non-resident workers also grew for the first time in 2 years according to government data, Sun added.

ERA's Mak also pointed to delays in the construction of new homes generating demand for rentals.

Overall condo rents rose by 1.6 per cent month on month and 11.2 per cent year on year. However, rents were down 5.2 per cent from the peak in January 2013.

The outside of central region (OCR) saw the highest year-on-year gain at 12.7 per cent, followed by the core central region (CCR) at 10.4 per cent and the rest of central region (RCR) at 10.3 per cent.

The number of condo units leased in January climbed 3.9 per cent to 4,646 units, from 4,472 units in December. Year on year, rental volumes were 5.8 per cent lower but 1 per cent higher than the 5-year average volume for the month of January.

Around 39.9 per cent of total volumes came from the OCR, 31.6 per cent from the RCR and 28.5 per cent from the CCR.

The HDB rental market also saw some gains in price and volume in January 2022.

Overall rent prices were up 1.2 per cent month on month and increased by 11.2 per cent year on year. However, rents are down 2.3 per cent from their peak in August 2012.

Mature estate rents rose 2.9 per cent from December, while rents in non-mature estates slipped by 0.5 per cent. Year on year, mature estate rents were up 10.5 per cent, while non-mature rents advanced by 11.8 per cent.

All flat types saw rent increases month on month, with 3-room, 4-room, 5-room and executive flat rents gaining 1.4 per cent, 1.6 per cent, 1.2 per cent and 1.1 per cent respectively. When compared with the year-ago period, rents were up 9.9 per cent, 10.9 per cent, 12.3 per cent and 8.8 per cent respectively.

HDB rental volumes increased 2.4 per cent after staying mostly flat in December. Around 1,806 HDB flats were rented out in January, compared with 1,764 units in the month before.

Leasing was down 7.3 per cent year on year, and 3.5 per cent lower than the 5-year average volume for the month of January.

In January, 37.4 per cent of total HDB rental volumes were from 4-room flats, 33.3 per cent comprised 3-room flats while 24 per cent were from 5-room flats and 5.2 per cent were from executive flats.

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