The property market will continue to stabilize despite HDB, private home prices rising during Q1: Desmond Lee
Singapore – There might be variations between quarters in Housing Board and private home price resales, but authorities are expecting the property market to stabilize, said National Minister for Development Desmond Lee.
Mr. Lee told reporters during the opening ceremony of Greenfly Allotment Garden, Boon Lay, on April 27 that the government would be watching trends closely during the next quarters.
His comments came one day after the publication of the latest HDB resale and private housing data for the initial quarter of 2024.
The first quarter of 2024 saw HDB resale apartments experienced a price hike of 1.8 percent over the previous quarter’s 1.1 percent. It was the 16th straight quarter of price increase since the second quarter of 2020, according to data published by the official board of the statutory.
The private residential property prices increased by 1.4 percent in the first quarter, based on statistics from the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA).
“Season by season and quarter by quarter there will be a fluctuation in (HDB) prices for resales. If you analyze the trend year after year, the resale prices this year were less than 2022 while 2022 was less than 2022,” said Mr Lee.
HDB resale price rose by 4.9 percent in 2023. This is less than the 10.4 percent increase in 2022 or the 12.7 percent increase in 2021.
He explained that this was due to several factors, including HDB catching up with the construction delays caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and the ongoing ramp-up of Build-To Order (BTO).
The authorities have pledged to start selling 100,000 BTO flats between 2021 and 2025. At the time of February over 67,000 BTO flats had been offered for sale.
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As a result, the private housing supply has also been ramped up.
Some 5,450 private homes across 10 confirmed locations are scheduled to be sold in the first quarter of 2024 as part of the Government Land Sales programme. It’s the seventh consecutive half-yearly increase in housing supply since the beginning of 2021.
The sites listed will be sold in accordance with the schedule and regardless of demand.
“We also put in an array of cooling measures, so that we ensure the property market both on the private as well as HDB side – remains within the realm of economic basic principles,” added Mr Lee.
Mr Lee on April 27 also singled out a five-room unit in a Design, Build and Sell Scheme (DBSS) project in Toa Payoh with an estimated price of $2 million which has attracted interest in recent weeks.
In 2005, the scheme was introduced to provide homeowners with a higher income houses with higher quality finishes and designs. The scheme was canceled in the year 2011. DBSS flats, which are built on land owned by the government and developed by private developers, were shut down in the year 2011.
Mr Lee reassured those who were concerned that this was a reflection of increased resale values and said that the amount of homes sold for 1 million or more remains only a tiny fraction of the total volume of resale deals that occur each year. He also noted that these flats are often rare or jumbo, located in high-rises, close to transport hubs and shopping malls or with other unique attributes.
In March, 61 units were sold for a total of $1 million. Based on data from the real estate websites Singapore Real Estate Exchange (SREX) and 99.co, this was only one percent of 2,063 resale apartments sold during the same time.
The allotment garden that Mr Lee opened at the level of Block 209 Boon Lay Place on April 27 offers residents individual gardening plots, and is the 15th and newest garden that will be constructed under HDB and URA’s Lively Places Fund.
Eight gardens are still on the way.
HDB disbursed $1.1 million from the fund by end-March to fund 223 projects, including allotment and community garden roof decks on parking garages with multiple levels and large green spaces.
