About 4,300 new flats in Punggol and Yishun will be offered for sale next month, the Housing and Development Board (HDB) said in its release of public housing data for the second quarter.
In addition to the Build-to-Order (BTO) launch, a Re-Offer of Balance Flats sales exercise will also be held at the same time, HDB said on Friday (Jul 27).
Resale prices for flats inched up 0.1 per cent in the second quarter, but the number of transactions rose by 33 per cent, the housing board said.
A total of 5,941 resale flats were sold in the quarter, up from 4,458 in the first quarter.
A total of 11,373 new flats were offered for sale in the first half of this year, comprising 7,634 BTO flats and 3,739 balance flats.
HDB said earlier this month that it will launch 16,000 new flats for sale this year, down from its previous estimate of 17,000 flats.
Real estate agency ERA noted that the lower loan-to-value limits introduced with the latest round of property cooling measures will affect HDB buyers who take bank loans.
“This is likely to keep HDB resale prices in check,” said Key Executive Officer Eugene Lim.
“However, there will be demand from en bloc sellers who wish to keep part of their proceeds from their sale, and hence choose to downgrade to an HDB flat while keeping the rest for retirement or investment,” Mr Lim added.
Property agency PropNex agreed that the HDB market could benefit from demand from en bloc sellers, especially those considering bigger-sized resale flats as their replacement homes.
“As this segment is not affected by the revisions to the ABSD (Additional Buyer’s Stamp Duty), we believe it will depict greater resilience in the market in the coming quarters,” said PropNex CEO Ismail Gafoor.
Mr Ismail said he forecasts HDB resale prices to increase by up to 1 per cent in 2018. ERA’s Mr Lim was less optimistic, saying that he expects prices to remain flat or decline by up to 1 per cent this year.
READ: HDB resale market to see “little” benefit from cooling measures, experts say
HDB RENTALS UP
The number of HDB flats rented out rose by 2.6 per cent from 11,721 in the first quarter to 12,024 in the second quarter. When compared to the same period a year ago, the number was up 10 per cent.
As of Jun 30, there were 54,896 HDB flats rented out, up 1 per cent from Mar 31.
Source: Channel NewsAsia – 27 Jul 2018