Resale prices for Housing and Development Board (HDB) flats fell for a seventh straight month, slipping 1.1 per cent month-on-month in August – marking a 31-month low since January 2012, according to the Singapore Real Estate Exchange (SRX).
According to the SRX HDB flash report released on Thursday (Sep 4), June’s HDB resale prices dropped 7.1 per cent year-on-year in August. Compared to the peak in April 2013, prices for resale flats have declined by 8.6 per cent, SRX said.
The SRX report revealed that the price drop affected 3- and 4-room flats, which saw a price decline of 2.0 and 0.9 per cent, respectively, compared to July. Executive flats and 5-room flats, however, saw a rise in price by 1.5 and 0.8 per cent, respectively.
In August, 1,327 HDB resale flats were sold, a 1.1 per cent decrease from the 1,342 transacted units in May, SRX added.
Rental volume and prices remained flat in August. An estimated 1,550 HDB flats were rented out in August, compared to 1,548 flats in July. Rents posted a small increase of 0.2 per cent on-month, the report stated.
TOX STILL NEGATIVE
The overall median Transaction Over X-Value (TOX), which measures whether people are overpaying or underpaying the SRX estimated market value, remained at a negative S$3,000 for August. The median TOX has been negative since May 2013, said the SRX.
According to the report, Bukit Merah was the only town of relatively high activity with a positive median Transaction Over X-Value (TOX). For HDB towns with more than 10 resale transactions in August, only Bukit Merah reported a positive median TOX of S$8,000. Among relatively active towns, Bukit Panjang posted the most Negative median TOX. Among HDB towns with more than 10 transactions, the lowest median TOX was seen in Bukit Panjang, Ang Mo Kio, and Hougang, at -S$12,800, -S$8,000, and -S$6,100, respectively.
Source : Channel NewsAsia – 4 Sep 2014