Friday 7 February 2014

Cash premiums for resale HDB flats fall to eight-year low in January

SINGAPORE - Cash premiums for resale Housing Board flats continued to fall this year, with median cash-over-valuation (COV) dropping to $3,000 in January, according to Singapore Real Estate Exchange (SRX) flash figures on Thursday.

Here is the full SRX HDB Flash Report for January 2014:
HDB median COV dropped to $3,000. Overall HDB Cash-Over-Valuation (COV) in January 2014 dropped $2,000 from December 2013 to register a new low of $3,000 since October 2006. The median COV of $3,000 is on par with the previous low in June 2009 during the Global Financial Crisis.

Eight out of 28 HDB Towns saw zero or negative median COV. Sengkang and Punggol led the drop in COV with negative overall COVs recorded in Jan 2014. Bishan, Geylang, Jurong West, Sembawang, Woodlands and Yishun recorded zero overall median COV.

Almost three in ten HDB deals closed below valuation. According to transaction records from srx.com.sg agencies, 28.5 per cent of HDB resale deals were closed below valuation in January, an increase from the 20.4 per cent that closed below valuation in December. January's number is higher than the previous high of 26.0 per cent that closed below valuation in April 2009. Sengkang and Punggol saw more than half of their resale deals transacted below valuation.

HDB resale prices remained relatively flat. Overall, HDB resale prices gained a marginal 0.3 per cent in January, thwarting the general decline in monthly prices since April 2013.

Resale volume dropped 34.6 per cent y-o-y. According to flash estimates, 893 HDB flats were sold in January's resale market, a slight drop from December 2013's 910 units. On a year-on-year basis, January's resale volume posted a 34.6 per cent drop from 1,365 flats sold over the same month of last year.

Rental volume dropped 18.7 per cent y-o-y. An estimated 1,319 HDB flats were rented in January 2014, 6.8 per cent less than December 2013's 1,415 rental transactions. On a year-on-year basis, January's rental volume posted a 18.7 per cent drop from 1,623 flats leased over the same month of last year.

HDB median rents remained flat. HDB median rents stayed constant at $2,300 in January, after two consecutive monthly drops in November and December.

Thursday, Feb 06, 2014
The Straits Times

Source: AsiaOne