SINGAPORE: The market for Housing and Development Board (HDB) resale flats may have peaked, with slowing price growth and dipping demand, according to a PropertyGuru report on Monday (Aug 7).
Data also shows that the private home market is also reaching its peak and prices may stabilise in the coming quarters, the report added.
Analysis of more than 600,000 listings on PropertyGuru Singapore’s website found that the residential property market shows signs of deceleration, the company said.
One signal is the Singapore Property Sale Demand Index for HDB resale flats, which has declined by 6.4 per cent in the second quarter of this year. This index tracks the number of enquiries of all property sale listings on PropertyGuru Singapore.
“Considering that the Sale Demand Index can be interpreted as an early indicator of market trends – as it reflects buyer interest at the beginning of their property search – these figures hint that the HDB resale market may have reached its peak,” said the PropertyGuru’s Singapore Property Market Report for Q3 2023.
The increase in asking prices for HDB resale flat listings also slowed in the second quarter of 2023, growing 0.6 per cent, compared with a 1.6 per cent increase in the first quarter.
The median asking price of a 1,000 sq ft four-room flat is now S$571,900 (US$425,000), up from S$555,800, based on PropertyGuru data.
The gap between what buyers are willing to pay and what sellers are asking for is not expected to narrow significantly, said PropertyGuru.
However, property seekers are less pressured to meet the high prices as they have more choices – more Build-to-Order (BTO) flats are being completed, and about 16,000 flats are set to fulfil their minimum occupation period (MOP) this year. HDB flats can only be sold after the MOP.
A Huttons report on Tuesday on HDB prices in the second quarter also noted a “moderation in price growth” which may be due to growing BTO supply, price resistance from buyers and property cooling measures.
Property cooling measures were implemented in December 2021, September 2022, and April this year.
However, prices remain high with the HDB resale price index gaining 33.6 per cent since the “circuit breaker” in the second quarter of 2020. It is also 17.9 per cent above the last peak in the second quarter of 2013.