Analysts expect resale flat prices to remain flat this year.
HDB resale flat prices fell by 0.2 percent in Q4 2017 from the previous three-month period. For the whole year, prices dropped by 1.5 percent, revealed more complete data released by the Housing Board on Friday (26 January).
Resale flat transactions also fell by 1.2 percent to 5,738 cases in Q4 2017 from the previous quarter. However, the figure was up 14.5 percent from the same period in 2016. In addition, resale transactions rose by 6.1 percent to 22,077 cases in 2017 from the previous year.
Commenting, Eugene Lim, Key Executive Officer at ERA Realty, said prices are expected to bottom out due to spillover effects from the private housing market’s recovery.
“For 2018, we are expecting resale HDB prices to remain flat. Any price increase is likely to be very moderate and would not exceed 1.0 percent for 2018,” he said.
Meanwhile, there was some growth in the HDB rental market with 53,750 units rented out as at 31 December 2017, an increase of 0.6 percent over Q3. Year-on-year, the number of approved applications to rent out flats was 5.6 percent higher.
“For the more budget conscious tenant, HDB flats remain the accommodation of choice due to their combination of location and budget,” said Lim.
Looking ahead, HDB said it will launch about 17,000 new flats for sale in 2018. The next BTO exercise takes place in February, with about 3,600 flats offered in Choa Chu Kang, Geylang, Tampines and Woodlands. There will also be a concurrent re-offer of balance flats exercise.
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Romesh Navaratnarajah, Senior Editor at PropertyGuru, wrote this story. To contact him about this or other stories, email romesh@propertyguru.com.sg
