SINGAPORE - Prices of Housing Board flats picked up in the second quarter of 2023, rising by 1.4 per cent, a faster pace than the 1 per cent in the first quarter, flash estimates from HDB showed on Monday.
This marks the 13th consecutive quarter of price increase since the second quarter of 2020, when prices started to climb after Singapore exited a two-month-long circuit breaker period during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Still, HDB resale prices are showing signs of moderation since property cooling measures were implemented in December 2021. The 1.4 per cent increase is lower than the average quarterly growth of 2.5 per cent in 2022.
Fewer units also changed hands in the second quarter of 2023, with resale volume estimated to be 6,409 units.
This is 4.6 per cent lower than the 6,720 units resold in the same period in 2022 and marks the lowest resale volume in the last three years since the third quarter of 2020, data showed.
National Development Minister Desmond Lee, in a Facebook post on Monday, said the continued signs of moderation in both the private and HDB resale market are evident in the flash estimates, with growth slowing on the public housing front.
The authorities have implemented three rounds of measures to cool the property market and moderate demand since December 2021.
Measures include imposing a 15-month wait-out period on private property owners who wish to buy an HDB resale flat and lowering the loan-to-value limit for HDB housing loans in two rounds – from 90 per cent to 85 per cent and a further lowering to 80 per cent – to ensure prudent borrowing in a time of rising interest rates.
“With these measures in place, we are seeing some moderation in the rate of increase in resale prices,” said HDB.
Ms Christine Sun, OrangeTee & Tie’s senior vice-president of research and analytics, said the price growth in the second quarter was driven mainly by five-room flats.
Median prices of these flats rose by 1.9 per cent from $638,000 in the first quarter to $650,000 in the second quarter, she said.
A total of 103 HDB resale flats were sold for at least $1 million in the second quarter, on par with the 103 units in the first three months of the year, noted Ms Sun.
Notably, a 176 sq m adjoined flat at Moh Guan Terrace in Tiong Bahru changed hands for a record $1.5 million in June, despite having around 48 years left on its 99-year lease.
On the housing supply front, a total of 13,000 Build-To-Order (BTO) flats will be launched in the second half of 2023, about 31 per cent more than the 9,923 units launched in the first half of the year, said HDB.
These numbers may be reviewed as more project details are firmed up closer to the launch dates, it added. BTO flats are typically launched in February, May, August and November.
In August, about 6,700 BTO flats in towns such as Choa Chu Kang, Kallang/Whampoa, Queenstown and Tengah will be offered.
Another 6,300 flats in towns such as Bedok, Bishan, Bukit Merah, Bukit Panjang, Jurong West, Queenstown and Woodlands will be launched in November.
Starting with the August sales exercise, stricter rules to reduce the drop-out rate will be imposed on first-timer BTO applicants. Those who do not select a BTO flat when invited to do so will lose their first-timer priority status and be considered second-timers in subsequent flat applications for a year.
Mr Lee said the authorities have continued to increase housing supply to meet the demand. “We will continue to keep a close watch on the property market, and adjust our policies as necessary,” he wrote in his Facebook post.
Supply of BTO flats has been ramped up by 35 per cent in recent years – from 17,100 flats in 2021, to 23,200 flats in 2022, and 23,000 flats in 2023.
HDB remains on track to launch a total of 100,000 flats from 2021 to 2025.
