The number of resale Housing Board flats changing hands has dropped to a seven-year low, according to the latest official data.

HDB figures show there were only 4,335 transactions in the first quarter of this year.

Since HDB started tracking such information seven years ago, transactions in the first quarter had averaged 6,600.

The latest figures also show that resale prices rose at a slower clip - 1.3 per cent, compared to 2.5 per cent in the preceding quarter. However, this was more than the 0.6 per cent seen in the first quarter of last year.

Property analysts had previously attributed the slowdown to the latest round of cooling measures, which capped the percentage of income a buyer could use to service his housing loan.

While this prevented buyers from overstretching their finances, it also stopped them from buying the larger flats.

Three- and four-room sales made up more than half of the deals in the first three months of this year.

The HDB is also seeing more rentals. Subletting transactions rose 15 per cent over the previous quarter. The total number of flats approved for rent also rose 1.8 per cent to 44,274 in the same time period.