Singapore HDB resale prices, volumes slump in September

The Housing and Development Board (HDB) resale market in Singapore had a dismal performance in September, with both prices and volumes going downhill.

HDB flats in Singapore
A view of a newly constructed public housing estate in Singapore Reuters

Singapore's Housing and Development Board (HDB) market performed rather poorly during the month of September, with a decline in both resale prices and volumes recording.

According to the latest figures by the SRX Property, there was a decrease of 0.3 percent in HDB resale prices in the said month compared to the previous period.

The decline was apparent in different HDB types, with HDB Executive reporting the deepest price cut at 1.5 percent. Resale prices for HDB 3 Rooms and HDB 4 Rooms also posted declines at 0.5 percent and 0.6 percent, respectively. Only the resale price of HDB 5 Room bucked the downtrend, reflecting a slight 0.1 percent increase.

On a yearly basis, prices for these resale units decreased more sharply, down 1.8 percent from September 2016. In comparison to the resale price peak in April 2013, recent figures were down by 12.3 percent.

SRX also noted that in the said month, HDB resale prices in mature estates went up by 0.8 percent, whilst those in non-mature estates went down by 0.1 percent.

Year-on-year, prices in mature estates have increased from 0.1 percent whilst those in non-mature estates went down by 3.3 percent.

The resale volume in September was particularly dismal. According to HDB resale data, there were only 1,683 resale flats sold in the said month, a 14 percent decline from 1,957 transacted units in August.

On a yearly basis, September's resale volume was just one flat short from 2017's 1,684 units resold. However, compared to its peak in May 2010, resale volume was down by a whopping 53.9% from 3,649 units.

There is also an interesting finding on the overall median transaction over x-value (TOX). This measures whether people are overpaying or underpaying the SRX Property X-Value estimated market value.

In the said month, the median TOX value was negative $2,000. For HDB towns having more than 10 resale transactions with T-O-X in September 2017, Serangoon reported the highest median TOX of POSITIVE $5,000 followed by POSITIVE $3,000 in Pasir Ris.

This means that majority of the buyers in these towns have purchased units above the computer-generated market value.

READ MORE