Singapore condo rents rise 1.9% in January, HDB rents up 0.3%: SRX

RENTS for condominiums and private apartments rose 1.9 per cent month on month in January, with HDB rents also stronger, edging up 0.3 per cent, according to flash figures from real estate portal SRX Property on Wednesday.

SRX also revised its flash estimate of a 0.2 per cent fall in rents in December to a 0.2 per cent rise.

According to its estimates, January's rise in non-landed private residential rents was broad-based, with the core central region, rest of central region, and suburbs seeing rent increases of 1.1 per cent, 2.3 per cent, and 2.1 per cent respectively.

Year on year, rents last month were also up 1.9 per cent, though down 17.9 per cent from their peak in January 2013.

Month on month, rental volume rose 18.3 per cent, with 4,373 units leased in January compared to 3,698 in December. Year on year, however, this was lower than the 4,579 units rented in January 2018.

OrangeTee & Tie head of research and consultancy Christine Sun said January's strong rental showing could be due to more tenants returning to the market after the long year-end holidays.

"As the number of private homes being completed this year is about the same level as last year, rents may remain flat at between -1 and 1 per cent for the whole of this year," she added. She expects rental volumes to continue strengthening, following last year's ten-year high of 88,400 leasing transactions.

In the HDB market, rents edged up 0.3 per cent month on month in January, slowing from December's 0.6 per cent rise.

HDB rents were also up 0.3 per cent year on year from January 2018, but remain 15.1 per cent lower then their August 2013 peak.

In January, some 1,864 HDB flats were leased, up 7.2 per cent from 1,738 units in December but down 3.8 per cent from the 1,937 units rented in January 2018.

Ms Sun noted that with more than 26,000 HDB flats reaching their five-year minimum occupation period this year, more flats could be put up for rental in the coming months. With such an increase, rents may correct by 1 to 3 per cent this year, while leasing volume may rise to between 55,000 and 56,000 units, she added.