But on a year-on-year basis, rents in March fell 3.5 per cent. The rental prices in March were 5.8 per cent lower than the peak in August 2013, said SRX Property in a news release on Wednesday (Apr 15).

Rents for three- and four-room flats posted an increase of 0.4 per cent month-on-month, but rentals for five-room and executive flats fell 1.3 per cent and 1.8 per cent respectively. On a year-on-year basis, rents in non-mature estates fell 4.1 per cent in March, while rents in mature estates fell 2.9 per cent.

The overall median rental price in the central area was the highest in Singapore, at S$2,725 in March.

However, real estate agency ERA said the rise in rents may be “one-off”, due to monthly fluctuations. Said ERA’s key executive officer Eugene Lim in a release on Wednesday: “Overall, the rental trend points to a decline by 5 to 6 per cent for the whole year.”

In addition, HDB rental volume improved in March. A total of 1,838 HDB flats were rented in March, up 29.4 per cent from 1,420 units in February. However, rental volume in March was 3.8 per cent lower as compared to last year.

ERA attributed this to demand coming from newly-minted Permanent Residents who cannot purchase resale HDB flats for three years.

PRIVATE HOME RENTALS CONTINUE TO FALL

Rental prices for non-landed private residences continued to fall, dropping 0.4 per cent month-on-month in March, said SRX Property. On a year-on-year basis, rents in March fell 6.3 per cent. The rents in March were also 11.1 per cent lower than the peak in January 2013, said SRX Property.

Non-landed private homes in the Core Central Region and the Rest of Central Region fell 0.5 per cent and 0.9 per cent respectively. But rents in the Outside Central Region bucked the trend, rising 0.8 per cent on-month.

ERA said the decrease could be due to a record number of private home completions. “It’s a tenant’s market and they have a lot of choices,” said Mr Lim.

He added that a tighter inflow of expat tenants into Singapore could also be a cause for the decline. Moreover, he said foreigners working in Singapore are increasingly not being provided a separate rental budget, so most would try save by renting cheaper units.

Mr Lim also said landlords may be prepared to accept lower rental rates so as not to leave their property vacant, as they are no longer allowed to apply for vacancy refund on their property tax.

“We expect overall rents to further decline by 6 to 8 per cent for the whole year as more new non-landed properties are slated for completion over the course of the year,” said Mr Lim.

Rental volume for non-landed private homes increased. A total of 3,948 units were rented in March, a 37.1 per cent increase from 2,880 units rented in February. On a year-on-year basis, rental volume in March was 14 per cent higher.

Mr Lim said the overall volume this year is expected to remain high, as existing tenants relocate to better options with existing or lower rental budgets.

The resale prices of non-landed private homes dipped 0.2 per cent on-month in March.

Source : Channel NewsAsia – 15 Apr 2015

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This trend continues even as data by the Housing and Development Board (HDB) and Urban Redevelopment Authority showed last week that prices of resale public homes and private residences have declined further, hit by measures such as the tighter Mortgage Servicing Ratio, the Additional Buyer’s Stamp Duty as well as the Total Debt Servicing Ratio framework.

Analysts point to the increasing number of expatriates who have opted to stay in cheaper accommodation instead of private condominiums as the main support for the HDB rental market. “Many expatriates are on a tighter rental budget, so they turn to HDBs because it’s much cheaper. We know of expatriates whose housing budget has been cut and they don’t really have a choice but to rent HDB flats,” said Mr Chris Koh, director of Chris International.

Another group that has propped up demand is new permanent residents (PRs) — the Government ruled in August last year that they would have to wait three years after obtaining residency to purchase resale HDB flats.

That prompted new PRs such as Mr Tan SW to extend his lease for a three-room flat in Bukit Batok. “My wife and I got our PR in late 2012. We started hunting for a resale flat hoping that we could move in when our (rental) contract ends but the Government announced the policy, so we … had no choice … to extend the contract,” he said.

But while rental volume has grown from an average of 6,900 transactions per quarter in 2010 to about 8,500 units every quarter so far this year, that has not translated into an increase in rents: Prices have stayed relatively flat owing to the increasing supply of flats eligible for subletting, analysts noted, with the Singapore Real Estate Exchange’s HDB rental index declining by 3.4 per cent in June this year from the same period last year.

That trend comes as HDB data shows that the number of flats approved for subletting has increased, from 126,500 new approvals in 2010 to 179,600 last year. In the first half of this year, around 93,700 flats were added to the pool of flats eligible for rental.

Said Mr Eugene Lim, key executive officer of ERA: “There’s a lot of supply. Recently, quite a few condos got their temporary occupation permit, and HDB upgraders who have collected their keys still want to hold on to their flats, so they … rent out their flats after they have moved to their new condos.”

Analysts said this trend is set to continue as homeowners look to reap the higher rental yields that HDB flats can fetch. Said Mr Koh: “HDB flats can command a good 6-8 per cent of rental yield, while the yield for private homes is in the range of 2-3 per cent … As more people are opting to rent out their flats after moving into private units, rents will stay under pressure.”

But while the HDB rental market remains robust, the softening private rental market could start to eat away at demand, Mr Lim pointed out, with condos an increasingly viable option even for tenants who are on a tight budget. This could chip away at HDB rental yields. “Rents have been quite stable because of the supply but now there’s also competition from the condo market. People with a budget of S$3,000 or a little more have options to rent condos, so there’s a cap on the increase of HDB rents,” said Mr Lim.

Source : Today- 28 Jul 2014

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Writing on his Facebook page, National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan said the termination of the Malayan Rail at Woodlands had a surprising outcome for the Housing and Development Board (HDB). Mr Khaw described it as “a pleasant surprise”.

There are 318 units in the two blocks of flats. Mr Khaw said HDB decided to spruce them up for HDB rental. The first batch of tenants will move in next month.

Mr Khaw said the 1-room and 2-room flats will meet the needs of lower income families under the Public Rental Scheme.

The 3-room flats will be available under the Interim Rental Housing Scheme.

Source : Channel NewsAsia – 9 Nov 2012

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Replying to a question in Parliament, Senior Parliamentary Secretary for National Development, Dr Maliki Osman said the Interim Rental Housing (IRH) came about because there were a number of old HDB blocks which were vacated, pending demolition.

To put them to some interim use, HDB decided to rent them out to families in financial hardship requiring urgent temporary accommodation.

As these flats are three-room or larger, co-sharing helps tenants reduce their rental cost.

“Understandably, a co-sharing arrangement is not preferred. But it is manageable, provided the tenants exercise tolerance, consideration and respect. HDB plays an active role in pairing the families; it will take into account factors such as race, religion and family size. HDB will also proactively get the families to meet up, before they are paired. This should help to improve the chance of successful co-sharing,” he said.

Meanwhile Dr Maliki added that the main mode of HDB rental is based on single-family occupancy, in one-room and two-room public rental units.

There are currently about 48,500 such rental units in operation.

Source : Channel NewsAsia – 1 Feb 2012

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One flat to be repossessed belongs to the real estate agent, Mr Poh Boon Kay, 61, and his wife, Madam Khoo Kim Cheng, 52, who had illegally sublet their four-room flat in Bukit Batok.

The other two flats in Telok Blangah and Bukit Batok are owned by the couple’s daughter and Madam Khoo’s 91-year-old aunt respectively. Both flats were also illegally rented out.

He acted as agent for the elderly woman and collected rent on her behalf.

The HDB said it is taking legal action to take back the units.

It is the most serious case of illegal subletting in the last two years. Only three other flats have been compulsorily acquired in that time.

In November last year, the HDB checked and found that Mr Poh had sublet his flat to three Myanmar couples without HDB approval.

The Pohs, who were not living there at that time, had also breached the Minimum Occupation Period (MOP) of three years. This rule states that buyers who purchase resale flats without a housing grant from the Central Provident Fund Board have to live in the flat for three years before they can rent out the whole unit.

The HDB then told Mr Poh this was unauthorised, and that they were intending to repossess his flat. On Dec 23, the HDB pasted a notice of intention to compulsorily acquire his flat.

The HDB told The Straits Times yesterday that Mr Poh will continue to hold the title deeds until investigations are complete. It will then decide whether to take back the title deeds officially and compensate him to the amount of $125,000.

Mr Poh, who claims he paid $155,000 for the house, can lodge an appeal against the notice. When asked, he said he was intending to appeal.

Mr Poh, an ordinary member of the Institute of Estate Agents (IEA), pleaded ignorance of the three-year MOP; he said he had been told by the HDB’s counter staff that he could sublet the flat after a year. He could not name the HDB employee.

But the HDB said that because of Mr Poh’s links to the other illegal subletting cases, his claims of ignorance could not be substantiated.

‘There is clear evidence that Mr Poh, a housing agent by profession, has been intentionally abusing HDB flats for monetary gains,’ said the HDB spokesman.

Mr Poh said he had not seen the acquisition coming. He added: ‘I can’t believe a notice can be served within a month of the HDB giving a warning letter.’

He said it was more usual for the HDB to send a second warning, or even fine an errant owner first.

The Housing and Development Act says, however, that the HDB can compulsorily acquire a flat once it ascertains that the owner is illegally subletting it.

‘HDB takes a stern view of unauthorised subletting, and will not hesitate to take strong action against those who flout the rules,’ it said.

The Board added that it will bring Mr Poh’s case to the attention of the IEA.

Mr Poh, who claims his daughter is stuck in the United States with marital problems, declined to discuss the cases involving her and his wife’s aunt.

He said he did not know for sure when they bought their flats.

The HDB has taken action against 56 such owners in the last two years, dishing out punishments ranging from fines of $1,000 to $21,000, to repossessing the flats involved.

HDB added that there was no discernible upward trend.

Flat owners who wish to rent out their flats must obtain approval from the Board and fulfil the MOP. The current MOP for subletting flats is five years for flats bought directly from the HDB or resale flats purchased with a CPF Housing Grant, and three years for resale flats bought without the CPF grant.

About 682,000 flats are eligible for subletting, but only 3per cent of these flats are sublet.

Source : Straits Times – 13 Mar 2010

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Most were fined between S$1,000 and S$21,000.

One owner had his flat repossessed for blatantly flouting HDB’s sub-letting rules.

Giving details of the case, HDB said it first received feedback on the unauthorised sub-letting of a unit in Block 336 Bukit Batok Street 32 on November 11 last year.

The flat was bought by Poh Boon Kay, who is a registered real estate agent. His wife was listed as an occupier.

He purchased the four-room flat from the open market in June 2007 without any loan.

HDB said the couple are also owners of five private properties. Its investigations found that the flat was sublet without its prior approval to three couples.

Mr Poh and his family did not live in the flat.

He was informed on November 25 to take immediate steps to evict the unauthorised sub-tenants, failing which HDB would take compulsory acquisition action.

However, the subtenants continued to occupy the flat. A notice to compulsorily acquire the flat was then served on December 23.

Mr Poh informed HDB on the same day that the sub-tenants had signed an undertaking to vacate the flat by the end of December.

A day later, the couple appealed. He claimed that the sub-tenant needed time to work out his finances before buying over the flat from Mr Poh.

He had therefore decided to rent out the flat to the sub-tenants in the interim.

On January 5, when the couple was interviewed by HDB, they claimed they did not know that they needed to seek the board’s prior approval before subletting the flat.

They also claimed that they were not aware of the policy for flat owners to fulfil the Minimum Occupation Period (MOP) of three years before they were eligible to sublet the whole flat.

HDB’s further investigations have shown that Mr Poh is also related to two other cases of unauthorised subletting at Bukit Batok and Telok Blangah.

With these further instances of unauthorised subletting related to Mr Poh, his claims that he is “unaware” of HDB rules cannot be substantiated.

HDB said as he has blatantly flouted HDB’s rules, there are no grounds for leniency and legal action has been taken to compulsorily acquire the flat.

HDB will also be taking legal action to compulsorily acquire the other two flats.

HDB would like to emphasise the severity of unauthorised subletting. HDB flats are meant for owner occupation. Flat owners who wish to sublet their whole flat must obtain approval from HDB and fulfil the MOP.

The current MOP for the subletting of flats is as follows:

*Flats bought directly from HDB – 5 years

*Resale flats purchased with CPF Housing Grant – 5 years

*Resale flats purchased without CPF Housing Grant – 3 years

Source : Channel NewsAsia – 12 Mar 2010

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Currently, it takes about two years to rent a HDB flat. But the waiting time may be reduced to one year, with stricter rules for applicants.

Mr Mah said he hopes the stricter rules will mean fewer eligible people will join the queue, and weed out at least a third of those who can afford other forms of housing.

“They (the stricter rules) are meant to allow the more needy to join the queue and allow them to get their flats faster,” Mr Mah told reporters at a Lunar New Year dinner on Saturday.

But, he said, enforcing the new rules may require HDB officers to do extra work, especially for exceptional cases.

“Those who don’t fit the criteria but we’re not sure, then HDB will have to do those checks,” said Mr Mah.

“This is where I think the process will be a little slower but this is something HDB is prepared to do.”

But, Mr Mah said, genuine cases can also be brought forward in the queue which is not based on a first-come-first-served basis.

He added that genuinely needy cases will also be exempted from the 13-month debarment.

Mr Mah, who is an MP for Tampines GRC, also called on residents there not to compromise on education expenses during tough times.

To help the residents, a grassroots organisation in Tampines has given out over $43,000 worth of bursaries to some 200 needy students in November last year.

Source : Channel NewsAsia – 7 Feb 2009

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Coming as it does three years after subletting rules were relaxed, Housing and Development Board chief executive Tay Kim Poh attributes this recent surge to changing market dynamics. “Rentals for private housing have increased, and those previously renting private property are renting HDB flats,” he said.

The result: This demand is enticing more flat owners to sublet their homes.

Then, property agents said there are the growing numbers of foreigners and permanent residents looking to rent an affordable roof over their heads, as well as to a lesser extent, en bloc beneficiaries who have sold their condos and are waiting for the market to cool before buying a home.

One man who cashed in on the strong rental market trend was chef Chu Seng Poh, 43, who is leasing out his 3-room Jurong East flat for $1,500 ˜ even though it has meant moving back in with his parents after 15 years and sacrificing his privacy.

“Every month, $300 goes towards my flat mortgage from my CPF. I don’t have to dip into my pocket and I collect $1,500 in rent. This is sort of a semi-retirement plan for me,” said the bachelor.

In March 2005, rules were relaxed to allow homeowners who had not yet paid off their HDB loans to sublet their flats, so long as they had occupied it for at least 10 years. For those with no outstanding loan, the minimum period was halved to five years.

These days, in spite of the surge in supply, sublet HDB flats can fetch $2,600 for a 5-room unit. But with more new housing supply in the HDB’s pipeline, and the latest global financial turmoil, would rentals remain this buoyant?

A major crisis aside, property agents expect market rentals to rise 5 per cent next year. PropNex chief executive Mohamed Ismail said “outside factors” have little effect as demand for public housing will always outstrip supply, especially with the continued influx of foreigners.

But for others like housewife Hanifa Kadir, 57, subletting is more a matter of need than profit. A host of debts and medical problems lead her to rent out her paid-up, 3-room flat in Toa Payoh.

“I’m a diabetic, I have heart problems and gout, I have not been working my entire life and my (late) husband did not leave me with much,” said Madam Hanifa, who moved in with her son and daughter-in-law.

And there are others like taxi driver Mohamed Shamsuddin, 57, who bought his four-room flat in Aljunied during the property market peak in 1997, when he was an administrative manager.

He lost his job in 2001 and exhausted his CPF savings last year. Unable to afford the monthly payment of $950 on his current $2,000-a-month earnings, he sublet his flat. “I hope the good rental market continues as I still have 14 years on my loan to pay off,” he said. “The downside is I’m staying with my in-laws whom I don’t really get along with, and this has been a strain on my marriage.”

Source : Today – 18 Sep 2008

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“Two years ago, you would pay less than $1,000 a month in rent for a four-room flat but now, you would be paying almost $2,000,” said PropNex chief executive Mohamed Ismail.

“If you are going to be here in the long run, it doesn’t make sense to rent when you can use the same money to buy a flat. One of my colleagues sells just three-room flats, and seven out of 10 units she sells are to PRs.”

The strong immigrant market is just one factor behind the strong 4.4 per cent growth in HDB resale prices between April and last month, even as the private property market is cooling. PRs cannot buy flats direct from the HDB unless they are married to a Singapore citizen.

ERA Singapore, which corners 40 per cent of the HDB resale market, has seen a four-fold increase in their PR clientele – from just 5 per cent in 2004, to some 20 per cent now.

Also fuelling the “pent-up demand” :- as Chesterton International’s consultancy and research head Colin Tan put it :- are HDB upgraders who cannot afford private housing and downgraders from the private housing segment.

With private homes still priced out of reach of the mass market for now, analysts believe the HDB resale market will remain bustling for some time.

This upbeat outlook echoed what National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan had said last month of this sector: “It’s a real demand, a real market for people to buy a flat to live in, unlike the private market where some people buy to live, some to invest, some for speculation.”

“So long as there are new families being formed and new immigrants coming in, the HDB market will remain a very active one.”

Private homes within reach of HDB upgraders?

While this is good news for the flat values of home-owners, young couples and new families have been concerned about a limited supply of new HDB flats to choose from, and about affording the Cash-Over-Valuation of resale flats.

With the housing board announcing a steady stream of upcoming projects this year, these first-timers’ needs areaddressed.

But those who cannot wait to have a roof over their heads :- given that new flats will go up on a built-to-order basis, and the reduction of balloting exercises for excess flats to just two a year :- and those who cannot buy direct from the HDB continue to fuel resale demand.

Looking ahead, with HDB resale prices continuing strong as private home prices taper off, would more HDB upgraders be able to move to private property?

Recent launches of condominiums outside the central region such as Dakota Residences have gone for less than $1,000 per sq ft on average. Clover By The Park at Bishan is going at an average price of $750 psf.

Compared to the average $550 psf for executive condominiums now, the price may just be right for some to go private.

“We could see anything from $600 to $1,000 psf in upcoming launches for condominiums outside the central region,” said Cushman and Wakefield Singapore managing director Donald Han. “Developers will be targeting the HDB upgraders.”

Source : Today – 2 Jul 2008

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