RESALE prices of Housing and Development Board (HDB) flats inched up 0.4 per cent in November from the prior month, and rose 5.4 per cent year on year, based on flash data from SRX and 99.co released on Thursday (Dec 7).

With 2,138 resale units transacted in November, volumes were lower by 2.8 per cent from October 2023’s levels, and 0.1 per cent down on a year-on-year basis. 

Christine Sun, senior vice-president of research and analytics at OrangeTee & Tie, said: “One possible reason for this slowdown is that buyers now have more housing options, especially in recent months.”

She suggested that HDB’s recent Build-To-Order (BTO) launches in October and December may have potentially lured buyers away from the HDB resale market. 

“Further, many of the newly launched BTO flats have attractive attributes such as being well-located, beside MRT stations, or surrounded by ample amenities. The wait times for the new flats have also been shortened, and serious buyers now have a higher chance of getting a unit.”

Homebuyers may also have chosen to purchase newly completed condominiums instead of a bigger resale flat, added Sun, as she noted that HDB resale prices have “risen rather substantially” over the past two years.

A NEWSLETTER FOR YOU

Tuesday, 12 pm

Property Insights

Get an exclusive analysis of real estate and property news in Singapore and beyond.

Sign Up

“Additionally, they do not need to pay an ABSD (Additional Buyer’s Stamp Duty) since they can move into the newly completed condo immediately. This has made buying a new condo more attractive than buying a bigger resale flat.”

Over November 2023, resale prices in non-mature estates grew by 0.5 per cent, but fell a slight 0.03 per cent in mature estates from the prior month. Both, however, grew on a year-on-year basis, with mature estate prices up 5.7 per cent and non-mature estate prices increasing 5.5 per cent.

Four-room flat prices increased the most by 0.3 per cent, followed by executive units at 0.2 per cent and three-roomers at 0.1 per cent.

On the other hand, prices for five-room resale flats fell by 0.8 per cent for the month.

Prices for all room types increased over November 2022 levels, led by a 6.4 per cent year-on-year jump in resale prices for four-room units.

This was followed by executive flats at 6.1 per cent, five-roomers at 4.7 per cent, and three-roomers by 4.3 per cent.

The highest transacted price for a resale flat for November 2023 was a five-room flat in Henderson Road which went for S$1.46 million.

Within the non-mature estates, an executive apartment in Hougang Street 31 came in with the top price tag at slightly over S$1.04 million.

A total of 45 HDB resale flats went for over S$1 million, comprising 2.1 per cent of November’s total resale volumes, and up from 41 of such units sold in October 2023.

Bukit Merah recorded the largest total numbers of million-dollar flats transacted at nine units, followed by six units in Kallang Whampoa.

The rest of the million-dollar flats came from Ang Mo Kio, Queenstown, Bishan, Toa Payoh, Clementi, Bukit Batok, Central Area, Serangoon, Woodlands, Geylang, Hougang and Bedok.

Huttons Data Analytics estimates that the total number of HDB flats sold at the million-dollar mark and over in 2023 could reach 460, or about 25 per cent higher than the 369 transactions recorded for 2022.

Mark Yip, chief executive of Huttons Asia, said: “Out of the 26 HDB towns, 22 of them had at least one million-dollar flat since 2012. Only Choa Chu Kang, Jurong West, Sembawang and Sengkang had yet to see a million-dollar flat.”

The real estate company expects Bukit Merah, Toa Payoh and Kallang/Whampoa to come in as the top three HDB towns with the greatest number of million-dollar flats in 2023.

Industry watchers expect demand in the HDB resale market to remain muted for December 2023 due to the holiday season.

PropNex’s head of research and content Wong Siew Ying said: “Looking at 2023, the HDB resale market is showing signs of slowing growth as the combined impact of price resistance among buyers, a large BTO supply, and the effects of the September 2022 cooling measures weigh on sales and kept price growth measured.”

ERA Singapore’s key executive officer Eugene Lim, however, anticipates a pickup in transaction volumes for 2024, as he noted that the economy is “forecast to grow at a measured pace”.