SINGAPORE - Although Housing Board resale prices continued an eight-month fall in September, more flats were changing hands, according to SRX Property preliminary figures released on Thursday morning.

HDB resale prices dipped 0.5 per cent in September compared to August, marking a 20-month low. The price index was 7.5 per cent lower than a year ago and 8.9 per cent down from its last peak in April 2013.

The fall was driven by dips of 0.2 per cent for three- and four-room flats, and 1.6 per cent for five-room flats. Executive flat prices rose slightly by 0.1 per cent.

But resale volume improved with 1,469 flats sold in September, up 10.7 per cent from the 1,327 sold in August. This was also 19.9 per cent higher than a year ago.

The rental market remained weak. An estimated 1,483 HDB flats were rented in September, down 6.7 per cent from August and 0.7 per cent from a year ago.

Rental prices also slipped 0.3 per cent from September compared to August, ending up 2.5 per cent lower than a year ago.

Rents were down 0.5 per cent for three-room flats, 0.3 per cent for five-room flats and 0.8 per cent for executive units, but edged up 0.1 per cent for four-room flats.

HDB buyers are continuing to pay less than SRX's estimated market value for their flats, but to a lesser degree. In September, buyers paid a median of $2,000 below SRX's 'X-Value' measure of a flat's market value. This was a price improvement from August, when they were paying $3,000 less than X-Value.