Resale prices of Housing Board flats ended the year on a modest high note although the number of transactions slumped.
Values inched up 0.1 per cent last month over November, according to flash estimates from SRX Property yesterday. That reversed the 0.1 per cent dip recorded from October to November.
Sales figures told a different story with 1,585 units transacted last month, 19.9 per cent fewer than in November. The number of sales was in line with the property market's quieter year end but still 14 per cent higher than the 1,391 units resold in December 2016.
The SRX's full-year HDB resale price index is down 1.8 per cent from December 2016 and close to the 1.5 per cent full-year decline shown in the Housing Board's official flash estimates released on Tuesday.
SRX data shows that HDB resale prices have declined by 12.5 per cent since their peak in April 2013.
The decline is due in part to a 1.2 per cent fall in prices in mature estates and a 2.3 per cent fall in non-mature ones.
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1,585
Number of units transacted last month, 19.9 per cent fewer than in November.
The marginal price increase in December over November was not seen across all flat types.
Resale prices of three-room flats rose 0.2 per cent, while executive units added 1.5 per cent. Five-roomers remained unchanged, while four-room homes dipped 0.9 per cent in value.
PropNex Realty chief executive Ismail Gafoor had earlier said that the price decline last year was mostly due to the greater number of HDB owners selling to upgrade to private property. Consultants generally expect resale prices to stay flat or to increase slightly this year, with demand coming mainly from buyers who are not eligible for new flats or have urgent housing needs.
