Release Of 3Q07 Public Housing Data

Source : Housing Development Board (HDB)Press Releases, Oct 26, 2007

This press release provides housing data for the HDB Resale and Rental Markets based on transactions in 3rd Quarter 2007.


HDB Resale Market

HDB’s Resale Price Index (RPI) rose by 6.6% in 3rd Quarter 2007 over the previous quarter, with price increases across most flat types and towns. As at end-Sep 07, the HDB RPI has increased by about 11% since the start of the year. Please see Annexes A-1 and A-2 for the RPI series, and Annex B for the median transacted prices of resale flats by town and flat type1 in 3rd Quarter 2007.

The median Cash-Over-Valuation (COV) amount among all resale transactions conducted in 3rd Quarter 2007 was $17,000 (see Annex C). Cases requiring COV constituted 80% of all resale transactions in this quarter, with 20% of resale transactions done at or below valuation.

Resale transactions decreased by 11% from 8,700 cases in 2nd Quarter 2007 to 7,700 cases in 3rd Quarter 2007, after a 38% increase in the previous quarter (see Annex D).


Upcoming Supply of New Flats for Sale

HDB has observed good take-up rates for recent public housing projects launched under the Build-To-Order (BTO) system. To meet rising demand, HDB has launched about 2,700 new flats under 4 BTO projects in the first three quarters of the year. In addition to the launch of a further 916 new units on Thursday 25 Oct, HDB has plans to offer another 3,500 new flats under the BTO system in the next 6 months. There are also plans to release another 3 Design, Build and Sell Scheme (DBSS) sites with an estimated combined yield of 1,500 units over this period.

This new flat supply will be in addition to flats offered under other sales exercises, such as Balloting Exercises for surplus SERS flats, and the Bi-monthly/Monthly sales exercises for unsold flats. HDB will provide the details of the BTO flats and DBSS sites at the time of launch.


HDB Rental Market

In tandem with higher rents for private residential properties, sublet rents for HDB flats rose in 3rd Quarter 2007. Please see Annex E for the median subletting rents of HDB flats, by town and flat type.

In 3rd Quarter 2007, 3,500 HDB flat owners were given approval to sublet their flats (see Annex F). The total number of HDB flats approved for subletting rose to about 16,000 units, compared to about 14,600 units in 2nd Quarter 2007.

In addition to the flats leased by individual flat owners under the Approved Subletting Scheme, HDB currently leases out about 1,700 vacant flats to the general public through appointed managing agents. These flats consist largely of rental flats that have been vacated by the former tenants under Transitional Rental Housing Scheme and Dormitory Housing Scheme.

HDB will also be leasing out flats vacated under the Selective En bloc Redevelopment Scheme (SERS) to the general public under a special pilot project. This will put the vacated SERS flats to better use in the interim period, pending their redevelopment. The tender for the leasing of vacated SERS flats at Blocks 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9 Tiong Bahru Road closed on 9 Oct 2007 and will be awarded by Nov 07. HDB will assess the response to this pilot project, before deciding whether to expand the scheme in future. If needed, HDB has a potential supply of about 4,000-5,000 units that can be introduced to bolster rental supply in the HDB market over the next 3 years.

The quarterly updates for the data in Annexes A to F can be accessed from HDB InfoWEB at http://www.hdb.gov.sg.


Transacted prices of individual flats (by blocks and flat type) can be found on HDB website and detailed online enquiries can be made at http://www.hdb.gov.sg/bb33/ispm051p.nsf