SINGAPORE - The Housing Board resale market saw a sharp surge in volume even as prices dipped slightly, latest official data showed.

Resale flat volume surged 27.8 per cent in the three months up to June 30, with 5,286 homes exchanging hands, up significantly from 4,135 sold in the first quarter of the year.

Prices, however, continued to fall although at a much slower pace than before.

The resale index fell marginally by about 0.4 per cent, slower than the average of 1.4 per cent declines over the past four quarters.

The latest set of data confirms what several analysts have been saying for the past few months: the public housing market is quickly stabilising and could soon be on the mend, with a proper recovery in sight by the end of the year.

Rentals also picked up, rising slightly by 1.2 per cent to 10,510 transactions in the second quarter of the year.

HDB also said the next batch of Build-to-Order (BTO) flats will be those situated in the highly anticipated Bidadari area and Punggol Northshore.

In all there will be 4,860 flats on offer in Bidadari and Punggol Northshore in the September BTO exercise.

Another 4,000 flats will be offered under the Sale of Balance Flats exercise at the same time. These are flats which have not been sold by the HDB in previous sales exercises.

In the first six months of the year, HDB offered a total of 13,426 flats.