SINGAPORE - Rents in May inched up just 0.2 per cent month on month for both private apartments and HDB homes as the number of units rented out continued their decline, according to flash estimates released by real estate portal SRX Property on Wednesday (June 13).

Year on year, rents from non-landed private rentals increased 0.8 per cent, and the May showing was 18.9 per cent lower compared to its peak in January 2013.

Compared to April, rents of condos and private apartments did not budge in the prime district or Core Central Region (CCR), while it edged up by 0.4 per cent in the city fringe or Rest of Central Region (RCR), and 0.2 per cent in the suburbs or Outside Central Region (OCR) areas.

Rental volumes declined 3.2 per cent in May from April to 4,674 units, and was 5.2 per cent lower than the some 4,929 units rented in May 2017.

In the HDB segment, rents were down from May 2017 by 2.7 per cent, and lower by 15.3 per cent compared to its August 2013 high.

Compared to April, rents for three-room flats and executive flats decreased by 0.4 per cent and 0.7 per cent respectively from the previous month, while those for four-room and five-room flats increased by 1.1 per cent and 0.2 per cent respectively.

Rental volumes fell 12 per cent to 1,885 flats from April's showing - 1.6 per cent lower than May 2017.