At present, the mass market projects, which have been laggards in the 2007 growth, are leading the recovery. Compared to 48 percent of transaction in H1 2009 intended for homes outside the central region (OCR), only 36 percent of private residential transactions in 2005 and 2006 were intended for private homes in OCR.
In 2007, out of the total transactions for private homes, there was an increase of 40 percent in the demands for homes in OCR. However, buyers who had HDB addresses accounted for the historical low of 22 percent as the mass market resale condominiums’ average price shot up by 26 percent.
Pent-up demand resulted among this group of purchasers as developers began to launch in the first quarter of 2009 the mass market projects at reasonable prices. Purchasers who had HDB addresses accounted for 56 percent of transactions in the first quarter of 2009.
The expected completion of private residential homes from 2009 to 2013 is estimated to have yearly sale of 11,313 units. The figure is 31 percent higher as compared to the average of 8,671 units in the last ten years.
Compared to 43,000 homes (both public and private) completed each year from 1996 to 2000, the number of completed homes in the last five years dropped by 70 percent to about 13,500 units per year. The decrease was the result on the restraints on HDB for the construction of public homes.
When the half-yearly sale of HDB 4-room, 3-room premium and bigger flats in April was over-subscribed for 23 times, the demand for subsidized flats became evident. From June to August, the 4-room and 5-room flats in Sengkang and Punggol saw four to seven applications for each offered unit. Unsuccessful applicants can consider purchasing mass market private homes or resale HDB flats. As existing HDB flat owners upgrade to private homes, the demand for resale HDB flats could spill over to the segment of private property.