Singapore Private Property April 2021 Update:

The private resale housing market remained robust with the number of condominium units resold in April hitting an 11-year high as prices rose 1.5 per cent from the previous month.

Overall Volume

There were 1,993 units resold in April 2021 – the highest monthly volume seen since April 2010. There was a 7.9 per cent increase in volumes from 1,847 units resold in March 2021. Year on year, April 2021’s volumes were six times that of April 2020’s resale volumes at 528.7% higher and more than double the five-year average volumes for the month of April at 125.2% more.

April Prices

Meanwhile, overall resale prices continued to climb, rising 1.5 per cent month on month and up 5.8 per cent over April 2020.

Month on month, the price increase was across the board. Prices in the suburbs rose by 1.7 per cent, while those in the city fringe and city centre both increased by 1.2 per cent. Year on year, the CCR, RCR and OCR increased by 2.6 per cent, 5.5 per cent and 7.3 per cent respectively.

URA attributed 56.9 per cent of resale volumes to units in the outside of central region (OCR). Meanwhile, homes in the city fringes, the rest of central region (RCR) accounted for 23.7% while the remaining 19.5% came from the core central region (CCR).

Reasons for Increase

Ms Christine Sun, senior vice-president of research and analytics at OrangeTee & Tie, said the resale market was propped up by a large proportion of Housing Board (HDB) flat upgraders as 56.9 per cent of the last month’s resale volume were in the suburbs.

“Many HDB flat owners have sold their flats in recent months and are searching for affordable, completed homes. Therefore, demand for resale homes may continue to increase in the coming months since prices of new homes are rising in many locations and the supply of mass-market condominiums remain limited,” said Ms Sun.

She noted that the uncertain rental market have may also driven some landlords to sell their units as it may still take some time for tenants, who are typically foreigners, to return to Singapore and for the leasing market to recover fully.

Construction Delays

ERA Realty head of research and consultancy Nicholas Mak said construction delays for HDB build-to-order (BTO) flats have also led to the surge in demand for condos in the resale market.

More buyers may have turned to HDB resale flats instead of applying for BTO flats, leading to an increase in HDB resale flat prices.

Delays in BTO flats may have led to higher demand and hence higher prices for resale flats. Thus, HDB resale flat sellers benefiting from the price increase can now afford to upgrade to private resale condos in the OCR.

“The continuing disruption in the local construction industry due to the pandemic would fuel the demand for completed HDB flats and private condominiums among owner-occupiers in the coming months,” he said.

Mr Mak expects prices for resale condos to rise between 6 per cent and 9 per cent this year.

Separately, Huttons Asia research director Lee Sze Teck said the ban on long-term visit pass holders and short-term visitors with recent travel history to India will likely cause further delays to projects under construction. PropNex head of research and content Wong Siew Ying said the demand for resale properties will likely remain healthy, supported by buyers who prefer “move-in ready” properties to avoid uncertainty around completion delays.

“The substantial price gap between new sale and resale properties may also encourage some buyers who have a tighter budget to look at the resale market,” she added.

District 21 (Clementi and Upper Bukit Timah) posted the highest median capital gain at S$486,250, while District 4 (Sentosa and Harbourfront) posted the highest median capital loss at negative S$54,8URA