Meanwhile, HDB resale transactions also fell to their lowest quarterly volume in three years, according to Monday’s flash estimates.
Resale volume for the third quarter – up to Sep 28 – was 6,592. While this was 2.9 per cent higher than the previous quarter, it was 9.7 per cent lower than the same period last year, which saw 7,298 cases.
Ms Sun said more Singaporeans bought HDB resale flats last quarter due to more grants given to first-timers and a delay in August’s Build-to-Order sales launch.
Changes to housing policies announced during this year’s National Day Rally also had an impact, said Mr Lee.
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong had announced that HDB estates would no longer be classified as mature or non-mature, with new BTO flats to be classified under Standard, Plus or Prime.
The new Plus category will come with more subsidies and tighter resale conditions, including a 10-year minimum occupation period. Owners are also required to pay back part of the HDB subsidies upon resale.
This reclassification of flats to Prime and Plus “may have a role to play” in the spike of the number of million-dollar flat transactions in August, said Mr Lee.
“Buyers are willing to pay more to buy a flat in the mature estates with no restrictions,” he added. “Fifty out of 54 million dollar flat transactions are in mature estates.”
ERA chief executive officer Marcus Chu noted that 126 million-dollar HDB flats changed hands in the third quarter, a new high compared with the 105 transactions in Q2 2023.
With 354 such flats transacted this year, set against the 370 for the whole of 2022, “we are looking at another record-breaking year”, said PropertyGuru country manager Tan Tee Khoon.
He was on the same page with the other analysts, however, in pointing out that price growth has continued to slow and transaction volumes have continued to drop. These are hints “that the HDB resale market may have peaked”, said Dr Tan.
UPCOMING FLAT SUPPLY
HDB added in its Monday press release that it will offer about 6,800 BTO flats in Choa Chu Kang, Kallang Whampoa, Queenstown and Tengah in the upcoming October sales launch.
Another 6,000 flats will be offered in the final sales exercise of 2023, which will be held in December. These flats will be in towns and estates such as Bukit Panjang, Jurong West, Woodlands, Bedok, Bishan, Bukit Merah and Queenstown.
“These numbers are subject to review as more project details will be firmed up closer to the launch date,” HDB said.
It added that it is on track to launch 23,000 flats in 2023 and a total of 100,000 flats from 2021 to 2025.