HDB Resale Prices Record 19th Consecutive Quarter of Growth
In the fourth quarter of 2024, HDB resale prices saw an increase of 2.6%, marking the 19th consecutive quarter of growth in the resale market, according to data published by HDB on January 24. This brings the overall price increase for 2024 to 9.7%, nearly double the 4.9% increase recorded in 2023.
The rise in resale prices in the last quarter of 2024 was slightly lower than the 2.7% increase recorded in the third quarter. According to Mohan Sandrasegeran, head of research & data analytics at SRI, the strong growth in resale prices throughout 2024 can be attributed to the limited supply of flats reaching their Minimum Occupation Period (MOP) during the year.
The tight supply of flats created upward pressure on prices, especially as buyers showed a strong interest in newer and larger flat types, such as five-room and executive units, which cater to growing family needs,” he says.
Among the various flat types, five-room flats saw the highest resale price growth in the last quarter of 2024, with an average price increase of 2.2% to $754,097. Meanwhile, four-room flat prices increased by 2.2% to $652,544 in the same period.
The Central Area saw the highest price increase, growing by 25.6% from the previous quarter, followed by Toa Payoh at 12.1%, Tampines at 6.9%, Bishan at 6.7%, and Bedok at 6.1%. A total of 285 HDB resale flats were sold for $1 million or more in the last three months of 2024, bringing the total number of million-dollar transactions in 2024 to 1,035.
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More than 90% of these transactions occurred in mature estates, with Kallang/Whampoa having the highest number of million-dollar flats sold at 156 units, followed by Toa Payoh at 144 units and Bukit Merah at 135 units.
The volume of resale transactions decreased by 21.1% from 8,142 units in the third quarter of 2024 to 6,424 units in the fourth quarter. This was due to seasonal factors such as the year-end holiday and festive season, according to Lee Sze Teck, senior director of data analytics at Huttons Asia. He added that the lower interest rate environment may have also encouraged some buyers to move to the private residential market or the Executive Condominium (EC) market.
In anticipation of the next Build-to-Order (BTO) sales exercise, which took place in October, some prospective buyers may have also opted to ballot for a flat, says SRI’s Sandrasegeran. This BTO sales exercise saw HDB launching a record 15 projects comprising 8,573 flats under the new location-based classification framework. It also allowed singles to buy two-room flexi BTO flats in all locations for the first time.
Despite the decrease in the fourth quarter of 2024, the overall resale transaction volume for 2024 increased by 8.4% from 26,735 units sold in 2023 to 28,986 units sold in 2024. This is the highest number of yearly resale transactions since 2021, when 31,017 flats were sold.
In 2024, Sengkang, Woodlands, Punggol, Tampines, and Yishun were the top five most popular HDB towns among buyers, accounting for around 35.9% of all HDB resales. The number of newly MOP flats entering the market in 2025 is expected to decrease by 41.6% from the previous year, with only 6,976 flats reaching the end of their MOP. This is due to the low number of BTO flats completed in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic.
In response, HDB has announced plans to launch over 25,000 new flats across three BTO sales exercises in 2025, including 19,600 BTO flats and more than 5,500 flats under the Sale of Balance Flats (SBF) exercise. The upcoming SBF exercise, to be held in February, will offer 5,000 BTO flats in Kallang/Whampoa, Queenstown, Woodlands, and Yishun. This will be the largest SBF exercise held by HDB since November 2020, when 5,220 units were made available. Approximately 4 out of 10 of the 5,500 SBF flats to be offered are already completed.
The increase in public housing supply aims to address the growing demand for housing, according to Sandrasegeran. He adds that SBF flats are particularly appealing to home seekers who value the option of acquiring a brand-new, ready-to-move-in flat with a shorter waiting time compared to the typical BTO process.
Moreover, about 3,800 units of the 19,600 BTO flats planned for launch in 2025 will be designated as Shorter Waiting Time (SWT) flats, offering wait times of less than three years. Sandrasegeran forecasts a 3.5% to 5.5% increase in resale prices in the HDB market for 2025, with resale transaction volume ranging between 26,000 and 27,000. However, Huttons’ Lee projects a more optimistic price increase of between 5% and 8% for the year.