HDB resale volume falls 14% in September: Flash estimates
The fall in HDB resale volume could be attributed to the Build-To-Order (BTO) projects launched in August, which may have drawn some demand away from the resale market. Photo: Najeer Yusof/TODAY
SINGAPORE — Last month, 1,683 Housing and Development Board (HDB) units were re-sold, a 14-per-cent month-on-month fall from August, flash estimates from the Singapore Real Estate Exchange (SRX) showed.
The SRX Property resale market flash report, released on Thursday (Oct 5), showed that the resale volume in September was at the lowest in seven months. In August, 1,957 units were transacted.
The September flash estimate was, however, consistent with the figure recorded a year ago (1,684).
On the whole, resale prices of HDB flats declined by 0.3 per cent last month, compared with August.
The resale prices of three-room units dipped by 0.5 per cent. For four-room flats, it was a 0.6-per-cent drop, while executive flats saw a 1.5-per-cent fall.
Five-room units bucked the trend, with resale prices inching up by 0.1 per cent.
For resale flats in mature estates, prices rose by 0.8 per cent. It was a 1-per-cent drop for those in non-mature estates.
Commenting on the fall in resale volume, Mr Nicholas Mak, executive director of real estate company ZACD Group, said the drop could be attributed to the Build-To-Order (BTO) projects launched in August, which may have drawn some demand away from the resale market.
In August, more than 3,800 new BTO flats were launched for sale in Bukit Batok and Sengkang.
But Mr Mak noted that September’s resale volume of 1,683 units was “not too far” from the average number of units transacted each month in the past year.
From July last year to June this year, 21,057 resale applications were registered, which translates to a monthly average of about 1,755 units transacted, based on statistics from the HDB.
Real estate company OrangeTee’s research and consultancy head Wong Xian Yang agreed that couples could have gravitated towards BTO launches.
The strong demand for the first batch of unsold public housing units from past Sale of Balance Flats exercises that were put up for sale again in August could also have diverted demand from resale units, he said.
At that time, the flats were four times oversubscribed, with first-time applicants forming almost half the interested buyers.
Describing the 0.3-per-cent fall in resale prices last month as a gentle decline, Mr Mak said the resale market was still “fairly stable” and prices were bottoming out.
Mr Wong found the downward trend in prices slightly surprising, noting the 1.3-per-cent year-on-year decline in the HDB resale price index in the third quarter.
He had expected more demand from first-timers, after the Government announced increased grants to help these families buy resale flats earlier this year.
First-timer families buying four-room and smaller resale flats now enjoy S$50,000 in Central Provident Fund (CPF) housing grants and those buying five-room or larger resale flats receive S$40,000, up from S$30,000 previously.
With the Additional CPF Housing Grant and Proximity Housing Grant, eligible first-timer families can enjoy up to $110,000 in housing grants.
