HDB to launch biggest sale of flats in February 2025 with over 5,500 units on offer

SINGAPORE: More than 5,500 flat sale flats (SBFs) will be offered in February 2025, the Housing and Development Board (HDB) said on Friday (Oct 25).

This is the largest SBF exercise, according to HDB, with about four out of 10 units to be completed, while the remaining units will be progressively completed from 2025 to 2028.

More than 10,000 new apartments will be sold next February, including around 5,000 built-to-order (BTO) apartments in Kallang-Whampoa, Queenstown, Woodlands and Yishun.

More details about the SBF and BTO flats on offer will be shared when the sales exercise is launched.

RESALE PRICES

HDB resale flat prices rose 2.7% in the third quarter of 2024, up from 2.3% increase. seen in the previous quarter.

The resale price index (RPI), which reflects general price movements in the resale market, was 192.9 in the third quarter, up from 187.9 in the previous quarter, according to data released by HDB.

Resale transactions also increased by 10.7%, from 7,352 cases in Q2 to 8,142 cases in Q3.

The increase in prices and resale volume in the third quarter was “led by strong broad demand as well as some supply constraint in the market, with fewer new apartments meeting the minimum period of occupancy (MOP) in 2024 compared with 2023”. , HDB said.

The number of resale transactions in the third quarter of 2024 was also 21.6% higher than the same period in 2023.

HDB added that resale transactions in Q3, which crossed the $1 million mark, continued to account for a small portion of total resale transactions.

Ms. Christine Sun, chief researcher and strategist at OrangeTee, noted that the 2.7% figure in the third quarter of 2024 was the fastest rate of price growth since the second quarter of 2022, when prices rose by 2, 8%

“The recent escalation in house prices can be attributed to the reduced housing supply. The number of flats obtaining MOPs has dropped substantially by almost 50% from 53,902 units in 2021 and 2022 to 27,501 units from 2023 to 2024,” she said.

SRI’s head of research and data analysis, Mohan Sandrasegeran, largely attributed the increase in resale prices in Q3 to an increasing proportion of transactions involving larger apartments, particularly four- and five-room apartments.

Noting a steady increase in demand for such apartments, he said: “As buyers have increasingly favored these larger units, their higher resale values ​​have likely played a significant role in driving up overall property prices. on the market”.

Rising demand for newer apartments also contributed to overall price increases, Sandrasegeran said.

“Apartments with leases starting in 2013 saw higher price gains due to their newer age and better condition, which continue to command a price premium,” he said.

“The combined effect of increased demand for larger homes and the rising value of newer condos boosted resale prices in Q3 2024.”

Regarding the 8,142 cases of resale transactions recorded in the third quarter of 2024, Ms. Sun noted that “this is the highest quarterly sales since 8,433 units were sold in Q3 2021.”

“As private property prices remain high, increased demand could be driven by more people upgrading from the same housing segment, from smaller resale flats to larger flats,” she added.

“More private house downgraders may also have opted to buy HDB resale homes to be affordable.”

Mr Eugene Lim, key executive officer at ERA Singapore, said the increase in transaction volume was “probably driven by some buyers moving to the HDB resale market”.

These buyers include unsuccessful June BTO applicants, those looking for centrally located flats with no new restrictions and some HDB upgrades priced outside the private market, he said.

“Furthermore, reclassification of BTO apartments introduced new resale restrictions, which may have deterred some home buyers from purchasing a BTO Prime or Plus flat. These buyers may have chosen to enter the resale market,” added Mr Lim.