More HDB resale flats sold in March, prices down 0.3%

Housing Board resale prices fell by 0.3 per cent last month compared with February amid the Covid-19 outbreak. But more flats changed hands in March, a 16.8 per cent jump from February, according to figures released by real estate portal SRX yesterday.

In all, 1,948 HDB resale flats were sold last month. The figure reversed the 13.1 per cent decrease in February from the preceding month. The figure was also 17.6 per cent higher than the number of units sold in March last year.

Compared with March last year, prices were 0.7 per cent higher last month.

ERA Realty head of research and consultancy Nicholas Mak said the market performed better than expected amid the coronavirus outbreak. He added that the expected contraction of the market next month will depend on the severity of the economic fallout caused by the pandemic.

Ms Christine Sun, head of research and consultancy at Orange Tee & Tie, said sales volume probably continued to rise last month because the transactions were completed or near completion before social distancing measures were implemented to stop further spread of the coronavirus.

"We may expect sales volume to dip in the coming months as social distancing measures were being put in place over the past weeks and viewings were discontinued as a result of current circuit breaker measures," she said.

She added: "(But) sales may pick up when the measures are lifted and house viewings resume."

The most expensive resale flat last month was a five-room unit at The Pinnacle@Duxton that sold for $1.2 million. An executive unit in Toh Guan Road went for $818,000, the highest price in a non-mature estate.

Resale flat buyers last month generally paid the estimated value of their HDB units. The overall median transaction over X-value (TOX) was zero in March, a decrease of $2,000 compared with February.

TOX measures how much a buyer is overpaying (positive value) or underpaying (negative value) for a property based on SRX's computer-generated market value. The data includes only districts with more than 10 resale transactions.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on April 10, 2020, with the headline More HDB resale flats sold in March, prices down 0.3%. Subscribe